


Dawn and Dusk: Pre-Series

by MoonRaven1412



Series: Dawn and Dusk [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Clay is so done with everything, Dimension Travel, F/M, Finnish pagan Mythology, I try to explain things as they come, Immortal OCs as well, More OCs, Murder, Self-Insert, Snark, Violence, characters trying to apply common sense to greek gods, crossover between my other fic, crossposted from ffn, demigod powers, game cheats, loopholes shamelessly exploited, lot of demigod OCs, not necessary needed to read Dream or Not, references rape of underage character, these tags are a mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 05:20:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 59,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17861075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonRaven1412/pseuds/MoonRaven1412
Summary: Ending up in another world wasn't bad enough, no, they just had to end up in another one from there. Thankfully they weren't reborn, that'd suck. But of course the danger of this brave new world would catch up with them anyways. At least they still had each other though...()OC/SI character(s) fall into PJO. Self-insert, SI-OC, pre-series.Characters borrowed from my Leaping into the Dream series hence the Detective Conan fandom tag.





	1. In which we fall from the sky

**Author's Note:**

> I originally started writing this 2015 but 2016 I edited the first chapter and 2018 the second one. Otherwise this is pretty much untouched since my writing pace for this has been much slower than my other fics.
> 
> Original A/N from FFN:  
> One reason for writing this fic is to fit my characters into PJO world. These two might be familiar for some of you from my Dream or Not and Leap to Relatively Unknown fics. You don't need to necessarily understand Detective Conan manga in order to read this but I'll add some explanations to the bottom note. To old readers I tell you that this supposedly takes place after destroying the Black Organization and Shugo and Tsukiko were in process of retrieving Pandora to get it destroyed. But this has no impact on my other two fics.
> 
> Other reason was to test writing from the first person's PoV. I usually use the third person but since the PJO books are from the first person PoV I decided to try it here too, with Shugo/Clay.
> 
> But without further ado I let you read this first chapter. :D

**Chapter 1: In which we fall from the sky**

I knew how it began. I knew what happened in the middle. I thought I knew how it’d end. I was wrong.

My home world was lovely. My current world was fine. My next world… it was plain illogical.

I had hoped to find peace and safety after taking care of the Organization. A chance to live normal life with my sister. No. We were transported into a new world.

* * *

** 201X, September 28th, 3 kilometers in the air above Tokyo Bay **

Electrical explosion rocked the room. A black haired girl coughed and waved smoke away from her face. She was around seventeen years old with greyish blue eyes. She was wearing grey jeans, dark blue t-shirt, black camouflage jacket and black combat boots. In her right middle finger she had a silver ring with large lapis lazuli that had gold sprinkles in it. The Lady Sky the stone was called.

I felt like asking her where she’d gotten it. Stolen it for some reason or other? Or just gotten it as a gift? But I didn’t. I was too busy leading our way away from the smoking room. We had just short-circuited the control panels of the room.

“Hurry, Tsukiko! We need to get out of here before the whole place goes up.” I told her. She was my sister. A year younger than I. My name was Shugo. We had chosen those names when we came to this world.

“Hai, hai…” The girl coughed and grabbed a pistol from the floor before sprinting after me. “Too bad there’s no openable windows here!” She shouted over the rumbling of the blimp that we were inside at.

I adjusted my quiver on my shoulder and checked that the _tsuru_ (Japanese style bow) I’d gotten from my mentor ten years ago was still there. Then I looked at Tsukiko.

“Well, that just means we have to make our own exit, right?”

There was a shift in her eyes and personality, and she grinned manically at me. “Absolutely.” It was sort of disconcerting that my sister had an alternate personality. Two of them actually. One that didn’t have a gender and was mastermind of killing off undercover members of Black Organization. Their name was Kage. And yes, even they killed off some of the BO agents personally. I shuddered at the thought. I didn’t like thinking my sister as a killer even though it really wasn’t her. It was still her hands that pulled the trigger. Anyways I still preferred Red Moon to Kage. Even though _she_ was a show-off thief flirting with my best friend who was her mentor. Complicated matters. Too complicated really. But both Kage and Red Moon in a way kept my sister alive. This world was dangerous even if outwardly it looked just normal.

We ran through the corridors, trying to get to the outer structures of the blimp. There was no one else. The blimp has been on automaton all the time. It meant that there was no Black Organization agents hindering the operation Retrieve Pandora.

What was Pandora then? It was said to be a gem inside another that could be seen when the gem was held against moonlight and the Pandora would shine red through the outer gem. And when some specific comet came near earth once in 10 000 years, the red gem would shed ‘tears of immortality’. A load of tosh if you ask me. But the Organization believed to it. And they were ready to kill anyone getting in their way when looking for the Pandora. Including our friend Kaito’s father.(The same friend that was Red Moon’s mentor. And Tsukiko’s almost boyfriend.)

Well, now the Pandora had been found. The Organization got their hands on it from Black Market of all places and then stored it for safekeeping to this automated blimp. Idiotic if you ask me. We in the other hand came to retrieve it so Pandora could be destroyed. All of our friends were already gone while we had the clean-up duty.

“You just had to push the self-destruct, hadn’t you?” Tsukiko groaned next to me. Apparently Kage had given the reins back to her. I grinned at my little sister.

“Of course. There’s nothing more exciting than running away from a certain death, right?”

She just smiled. “I suppose not.” Tsukiko ran ahead of me, swerved to the right and made a sharp turn around a corner. I followed her. We had made it to the viewing platform with windows. Not slowing down at all, Tsukiko aimed her gun and shot a clean row of bullets that pierced the window in front of us.

 **“Geronimo!”** She yelled and jumped feet first against the window. I followed the suit. The glass pane creaked and cracked under our combined weight and momentum before shattering and letting us fall out. Into a free fall.

* * *

We yelled. The adrenaline was bounding in my ears. Wind was rushing past us. Far away I could see Kaito with his hang-glider, flying away from the blimp. Sun was shining and making the red gem glitter in his hand. Pandora. It needed to be destroyed though. That jewel had cost lives of many, too many.

The free fall became faster and faster. Tsukiko was above me. Kaito was yelling something at us. I couldn’t make out what it was. The blimp exploded and threw him off the course. Miraculously his hang glider remained intact. The Pandora slipped from his fingers though. It fell down and down and down… My eyes were fixed on it. It should be destroyed. It needed to be destroyed. I took my bow and nocked an arrow. My eyes followed the gem’s fall.

“Shugo! You better hit it!” Tsukiko shouted but her voice was lost in the wind. I still heard it. I waited. And waited. I’d never missed my target. I was the best at yabusame and kyuudo for my age and better than most adults. My eyes had always been sharp and keen to notice details. My aim was impeccable. And I needed to succeed in this.

I let go of the arrow.

The bright red shards sprinkled the air. And past me fell another object. Tsukiko’s necklace that had slipped from her neck. She’d gotten it from our other friend Akako who was a witch. A real genuine witch. It was hard to believe but in the other hand believing in Pandora was crazy too, yet people were killed because of it.

I felt someone’s leg wrapping around my torso and then I felt a jolt in my stomach when my descend slowed down. Tsukiko had opened the paraglider from her backpack as soon as she’d gotten a proper hold of me.

“Ooh, I don’t like this… I don’t like this at all.” She was muttering and wrapping now her arms around me too burying her face against my back. She was afraid of heights. Red Moon wasn’t. “By the way Shugo… You better start praying whatever deities you believe in…” She told me then, to distract both me and herself. My eyes were still on the falling shards of Pandora that were glittering in the sun and falling to the ocean below us.

“Why?” I asked. I didn’t have a good feeling about it.

“This paraglider wasn’t meant for two people.”

_Snap!_

One of the support strings keeping the paraglider in shape snapped. We plummeted down again. Tsukiko was screaming this time. I was staring at the ocean that was coming closer and closer to us. The necklace with fell in a faint splash. The remains of Pandora still rained all around us. A flicker of green light flashed beneath the waves, sending ripples. Red drops sunk into the ocean.

“Tsukiko… What was that gem again?”

“It’s a green idocrase. Akako called it the Eye of Hecate.” Hoshi gritted through her teeth while clinging on me with all of her might. “She said it can open gates.”

“A gate home…?” I mused, before tugging my sister before me. She kept her eyes squeezed shut and then hugged me again. I urged her to let go of her backpack. It was useless now.

“I don’t know! Is it really now the time?! We’re dying!”

“…”

The Hecate’s Eye and the shards of Pandora were shining beneath the waves. I smiled grimly. This was our chance. A chance to go home unless we died the moment we crashed on the surface.

“Tsukiko… Let’s go to the next world.” I smiled at my sister. She opened her eyes slowly and looked at me in surprise.

“Y-Yeah…”

We fell.

* * *

_Was it limbo or space between worlds?_

_It was dark. Like space with all the stars around us. Gold dust brushing against us. It hurt and soothed at the same time. I watched Tsukiko as she was all I could really see. Behind her was two shadows. An androgynous teen and a young woman in her early twenties. Kage and Red Moon. They merged with Tsukiko. Her form glowed for a moment and the black hair dye she used (and I did too) just fell away. Like wind had blown grains of sand aside. The golden light pulsed around her form again and now she looked years younger, with her clothes even shrunk down._

_Then whatever force had been keeping her afloat, just let go. Tsukiko fell again. Moments later I fell too. But while Tsukiko looked peaceful, my whole body was hurting._

* * *

Waves crashed to the shore. Wind blew on my face, brushing sand away.

I groaned. My head hurt and my whole body was aching. The strangeness of everything came rushing back to me. The freefall, the limbo. And falling again. I squeezed my eyes shut and concentrated on my surrounding with my other senses.

Sun _wasn’t_ shining on my face. The wind was a bit cold against my skin. My feet were wet and waves were splashing against them. I could feel cold sand beneath my fingers and practically everywhere else too. There was some distant noise from traffic and occasional seagull but not much else. I finally blinked slowly before opening my eyes fully. My limbs felt heavy and so did my eye lids. I just wanted to close them again and sleep despite my discomfort.

“You are finally awake.” A girl’s voice stated from my right. She was speaking in English instead of Japanese. Why? I recognized the voice but couldn’t quite place where I’d heard it. Maybe it had been years ago… What I’d seen in Limbo came to me and I turned to look to the direction of the speaker. It was a young girl in her preteens. Sandy-blonde hair fluttering in the wind and greyish-blue eyes gazing at the sea. Just like…

“Tsukiko?” I asked and almost choked on my own words. My mouth felt like sandpaper. I coughed a couple of times. “…-that you?”

“Yes… I think this body is around twelve years old. And yours is around thirteen.” She stated, still not looking at me and just gazing the sea. Grunting, I heaved my upper body up so I could lean against my elbows. I felt like I had just been stampeded by a herd of elephants. I winced at the sensation and brief pain flashing in my head. I was about to place my hand on my forehead in the vain hope to steady my head and also my thoughts, but then my eyes fell on the figure lying on the sand on my sister’s other side. A boy who resembled me slightly (I suppose, I hadn’t seen myself yet) and… who wasn’t breathing. His hands were resting on his chest with a violin held in them. He wore a simple chocolate brown hoodie and blue jeans with sneakers. His blonde hair formed a stark contrast against dark and damp sand beneath his head.

“Who…?”

“Silas Terran. He died fifteen minutes ago. Fifteen minutes ago you weren’t breathing.” Tsukiko told me. I stared. _What?_ “When we came here, you were… very weak. I met with Silas and… the shards of Pandora that washed to the shore with us transferred his life on you. Everything he had left. Otherwise you wouldn’t have survived… Or that’s what this is telling me.”

The _‘this’_ was the Eye of Hecate that’s hanging around her neck again. I glanced at the sand around us and indeed, there was little grains of red among the light brown. Pandora was destroyed now. It wouldn’t hurt anyone anymore.

“We made it through then? Are we… where?” I tried not to think the dead kid on the beach, trading his life for mine. How was that even possible, Pandora or not.

“This is another book world. I found where we are.” She was fiddling with her phone that had been inside a waterproof bag during the entire operation. I idly wondered how she had internet connection but then the stuff transferring through the worlds wasn’t even remotely logical. “I checked popular mangas, cartoons, comics, movies, tv-shows and bestseller books. One name was missing from the popular authors list.” Tsukiko looked down at me with a calculating gaze. “It was Rick Riordan.”

I blanched. That was bad. Quite bad. The world of ancient gods and monsters. I forced out a laugh. “At least it isn’t Twilight, right?”

“True.” My sister chuckled before turning to look at the other boy. “I talked with him before the Pandora reacted. He is a violinist prodigy, living in an orphanage after his mother died when he was nine years old. He is… was fourteen but when he was ten he was diagnosed with leukemia. No suitable bone marrow transplant has been found so he had been making the best he could about his situation. He was a demigod though he wasn’t aware of it. Otherwise the monsters would’ve hunted him down. Well, I pieced together the clues and sort of told him though. Silas believed me and used both his powers and life in general to get you up and about. Meaning that you are a demigod now too. The legacy was passed on.”

“That’s…” I tried to find suitable words for that rabid-fire information my sister shot at me.

“When the Pandora began the process, Silas gave his full permission to you to live his life.” Tsukiko stated seriously. “Don’t feel guilty, please. Silas understood he was beyond saving and… He was happy to join his mother in… well, I guess Underworld is the correct term in this world. Now, if we were in Supernatural…” The joke fell short and she looked at me again, eyes brimming with sadness. I looked down and realized that my feet were still in the water.

“Why me? Why not you?”

“Apparently travel through dimensions with Eye of Hecate was too hard on normal human body. Mine is a bit different thanks to Red Moon and Kage but it still took its toll on me.” The tone of her voice told me that she didn’t feel like discussing about the toll with me. But I could guess. Just like Red Moon and Kage had been protecting her before, they’d saved Tsukiko in the Limbo too. They’d merged, making my sister stronger.

“Right…” I heaved myself on my feet slowly. “What’s the date?”

“28th September 2004. The sparkler will be stolen around 21st December 2005.” Tsukiko also got on her feet.

“We need new identities. Japanese names won’t work here. Not with these faces.” I spoke up then. We had been lucky that in the previous world we just needed to dye our hair and the backstory around us covered the rest. But here we were starting from the beginning. We knew the story but were still in the blind how to craft our own niche here.

“Nope.  I’ll take care of choosing them though, you shall type them into the register.” Hoshi gave me a grin that screamed danger. I eyed her warily before glancing Silas’ still form. And the violin case with a golden sun etched on the front of it.

“I want to honor him somewhat.”

“…His name was Silas Terran. Terran like Clay Terran from Ace Attorney games.” She was musing aloud now. “Clay was Apollo Justice’s best friend and Silas definitely was Apollo’s son…” She nodded to herself, making her decision. “You shall be Clay from now on. Surname and middle name I’ll pick up later for you. Oh hey! I can call you Polly’s boy now.”

“Polly’s boy? You realize that if someone hears, they’ll think it’s my _mother’s_ name or something…”

“Not at all. It can be easily explained away. Polly is popular name for parrots after all. We can simply say that we have very possessive parrot at home. Polly il pappagallo è il pollo.” She giggled. _Giggled_. Tsukiko never giggled. Much less knew Italian.

“Is that you Red Moon?” I asked tentatively. The girl in front of me looked up in surprise. She seemed to be considering the answer for a moment but shook her head.

“The connections have been altered and the characteristics are slipping through.” Was her almost stoic answer. I concluded that the merge wasn’t complete yet. “But from now on I shall be referred as Thalassa.”

“Another AA game name… Great.” I groaned. This only made me want to play the game. “What about Kage?”

“Kage is gone already.” The girl/woman answered and then shook her head rabidly again, like clearing her thoughts and focusing on her primary personality. “I’m not sure of the name I’ll take yet. Though the surname will be Cykes.”

“After Athena Cykes?”

“Or Metis Cykes.”

We slowly began walking away from the shore, leaving Silas in his eternal sleep. Up ahead was the skyscrapers of New York City. It was time to start from the beginning. Again.

* * *


	2. In which we settle in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids make money, get identification through not to legal means and do research.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is the second chapter, edited 2018 because the first version had a reference of Tsukiko/Luna losing her virginity to Kaito a bit before the mission of first chapter. But yeah, that did happen after all.

**Chapter 2: In which we settle in**

“Clay… Which one of us is the older one?”

The question came quite suddenly and for a moment I didn’t know how to answer to it. So I simply looked up from my newspaper that I’d pilfered from the nearby trashcan to stare at my sister who still hadn’t chosen a new name. We were hidden in the shadow of a side alley and she was watching people walk by. I wasn’t sure what should I answer to her question so I countered it with my own.

“Why do you ask?”

“When you are creating those identification papers for us we need our ages… but which one of us is actually older?” She looked down and slumped against the wall opposite me.

“I’m not sure… Originally you were four years older than I… then at sixteen you ‘disappeared’… and I’m using that term loosely. I waited five years until following you, making me almost eighteen. I arrived to the DC World ten years before your time point. In process my body de-aged ten years. I lived those ten years to catch up with you again so I was seventeen again. We lived one year in the same pace before arriving here where you are twelve and I’m thirteen… Even without my ten extra years, I’d still be at least a year ahead of you.” I shrugged, folding my paper and chucking it into the same can I’d taken it from. It flew in smoothly.

“As long as you don’t call me little sis I don’t mind.” She sighed. “I chose my name by the way. It’s Luna.”

“From Luna Lovegood? Your favourite book character of all time?”

“Yeah.” The now-named Luna smirked. “And it fits quite well our situation, doesn’t it?”

“But we get along much better than those archer twins.”

“Much.”

In unison we began walking along the bustling street before us. The Mist weaved around us thanks to the Eye of Hecate and disguised our belongings that we’d found from the beach. I was glad that my _tsuru_ was still safe and I hadn’t lost any arrows.

“So…” I glanced at the low hanging clouds. It would rain any moment now. “What’s the plan?”

Luna grinned at me.

“Interference without interfering.”

I smirked back. “Sounds like a plan. But first we need money.” I took a passing glance on the jewelry store window, not to steal anything from there but to see what I looked like now. The image wasn’t too clear but I could see my hair and eye colors were similar to Luna’s except that they looked like someone had upped the saturation on Photoshop. I ran a hand through my choppy locks. Great. Just great. I could just imagine myself looking like miniature Mr. Sunshine. Or Polly. I snorted at the thought of calling the ‘God of Awesome’ that in his face.

“We need to act quickly then, before our clothes get too ragged and we look like street urchins.” Luna spoke next to me. “And I know just the thing…” She had stopped by a restaurant. In front of it was a sign that asked for a pianist. How old-fashioned. Luna turned to me with a grin. “Ready to recall our lessons, brother dearest?”

I looked inside the restaurant. It looked tidy and cozy enough and had a grand piano inside. “Why not. But I have you know that my hands are too small for anything overly complicated.”

“Oh, that’s nothing. We’ll just play together.” My sister waved my concerns away and made her way inside the restaurant.

* * *

 

It didn’t take a lot to convince the owner to let us play. He was probably desperate. So Luna and I sat on the piano stool that was just wide enough to fit us both.

“What shall we play?”

“I play Valse Lente and you add harmony to it. I trust your new heritage will help you with that. Afterwards we’ll play Moonlight Sonata together. Then Für Elise… Finlandia could be quite nice too, don’t you think?”

“I remember it. It’s long and hard but it’ll last for the evening.” And thus we began the first piece.

* * *

 

We got a lot of cash. Some were tips from the customers and the rest was pay from the restaurant for our performance. We even got to eat there for free. It was great. And the owner asked us to come again. Luna promised we could on weekends. Right, we were pre-teens, supposed to go to middle school. We had to keep appearances. But now we had money. We could buy food and I needed a laptop for my hacking. And with time we’d need to get a place to stay. Permanently that is.

“We need to go to library.” Luna announced when we were making ourselves comfortable on the branches of the trees of Central Park. Sneaking into subway had been way too easy with the Mist helping.

“Why?” I yawned. After everything we’d learned and done today, I was dead tired.

“I need to find out more about these gemstones.” From the corner of my eye I could see her looking at the Lapis Lazuli on her middle finger. “I need to find out why they brought us here. Were they originally from this dimension or just keyed here? Were they creations of the gods? Are there more like this?” She smirked then. “And if there are, I want them.”

“That’s Thalassa speaking, right?” I frowned. While the older female (by mentality she was in her twenties) had never actually stolen anything, she still took fancy on pretty things and definitely had the skills to commit elaborate thefts.

“Partly. But I think that if they have some special powers, they might come in handy. There _are_ monsters out there after all.” She replied. “And my middle name will be Autere by the way.”

“Autere… That’s… It means ‘sunny haze’ in Finnish, right?”

“Yeah. And during one summer camp it was the name of the character who represented our part of the camp. Oh, the good times…” Luna sighed wistfully. We walked in silence for a while until I spoke again.

“Luna… Are you upset that you are not a demigod?” I asked. I knew how much she loved those books and like with any other book series that she liked, she wanted into the story. Well, now they were in the story but majority of the original characters were demigods and now I was one too, not Luna.

“Not really. I’m quite happy to be human.” She smiled.

“Why?”

“Because…” She took a deep breath and from that I knew a rant was coming. “All of those demigods are labelled one way or another. Those of minor gods are not paid any attention to. Pallas Athene’s are copies of each other because they are basically created from the same thought. Majority of their actual traits to tell them apart come from their mortal parent. Then there’s Ares’ brats. Violent, brutal kids with severe attitude problems. Hermes’ are labelled as troublemakers and thieves. And yes, it is true… Afrodite’s children are just posing in front of mirror, gossiping all day pairing up their fellow campers. Hefaistos’ are silent anti-social workers covered in machine oil and ash. Demeter’s children spent their time with plants more than people and are generally just tree-huggers. Apollon’s in the other hand are underappreciated who are stuck in the infirmary, only good with a bow and campfire entertainment. I’m not talking about Poseidon, Zeus or Dionysus because they have so few demigod children that I can’t get a good sample out of them. But as you can see, as a human one can be whatever they want to. No threat or pressure of a godly parent hanging over head and no expectations to conform to stereotypes more than what normal in regards of gender, religion and race.”

“When you put it like that…”

“By the way, has your dyslexia kicked in yet?” Luna interrupted me.

“…No.” I had completely forgotten about it. “Maybe I don’t have it since I wasn’t born as demigod, just… gotten a transfer of life force. I got something out of it but not everything. I mean… I feel like I’m more attentive right now, but I’m not fidgeting around like I’d actually have an ADHD. And I guess I’ll have relatively easy time to learn Greek too…” I shrugged. I was about to continue when another idea formed in my head. “You talked about being a demigod and why you are fine like you are… but how about the Hunters of Artemis? If they were to offer you a chance to join, would you?”

Luna gave me quite a dry look that said plainly: ‘Are you friggin’ kidding me?’

“Honestly Clay? You just had to ask. The obvious answer is no.” She huffed.

“Why not?” I asked. It would be interesting to hear her opinion about this particular goddess and her followers. “Do tell big brother why you won’t join the Little Sister Club.”

“Other than them being narrow-minded brats who discriminate to the extreme degree and by laws of nature shouldn’t even exist anymore?”

“That’s harsh.”

“That’s the truth. They hunt down men they encounter with same manner than monsters that roam this land. They see only what they’ve been told by Artemis who, I admit, was severely betrayed by Orion and there must’ve been some other factors too…” Luna trailed off to recall more information but came up with nothing as she shrugged and continued. “And I’m sure that they all have also had bad experiences with men but that doesn’t give them the right to label half of the human race by couple of dozen example! Not to mention that they are physically still the age they took their oath. Majority of them look like they are our age! What sort of pre-teen girl knows what she wants to do the rest of her eternity? The world changes all the time and they should keep up with the change. Those girls are mindless drones. Yeah, skillful warriors but who isn’t under a goddess’ blessing and decades or even centuries of experience? The fact is that they are narrow-minded, childish, bitter and misandrist. So there is no way in hell I’d join them.”

“You’ve given this some thought…”

“Yeah. I could come up with some good examples for them to tell. Like… imagine a family of four. Father, mother, sister and brother. Father is absent, mother is abusive drunk, sister runs away from home where her brother was the only person she cares about. The sister meets the Hunters and because of lack of knowledge she joins them. Years later the brother who has been worried to death about his sister finally finds her. He talks with her, hugs in delight when… there is an arrow in his back from the bow of another Hunter. He dies in front of his sister after finally reuniting with her. The only reason for his death was that he was of the wrong gender and touched the sister. And what happens next then? The girl either gathers up her courage and runs away from the Hunt… or then she allows to become brainwashed by the other Hunters.”

“I see…” I hummed. “That’s quite drastic indeed.”

“Yeah… Or how about a girl living with only her father? He is the person she looks up to and who is the center of her world. And the father loves her a lot too. But how does the Hunters see it and how they’ll react? They’ll surely kidnap the girl just to take her away from that ‘disgusting, vile male’. I wonder how many girls have met that fate…” Luna muttered and began walking along the street again. “Or how would they treat trans-genders or gender-fluid people? Or boys who are abused by women? I still remember that one Criminal Minds episode where the serial killer was abused by his grandmother because he was a result of rape and his mother died at childbirth. Well, I’m not sure about those two details but the mother was dead anyways and he had to live with his maternal grandmother… who forced him to wear dresses, locked him out of the house in rain and had to sleep in a doghouse… No wonder he became messed up in the head…”

I said nothing. I could see that Luna didn’t feel like talking anymore. So I just followed her as we went to look for a place to stay for a night.

* * *

 

It was some sort of a miracle how we lived the next two weeks. We survived and no one tried to send us to school. No one asked awkward questions. No one called the police or truant officers for two kids staying alone at a cheap motel. Maybe it was the Mist at work. Or then people simply didn’t care and saw only what they wanted to see… No, that was the Mist at work too. I wasn’t sure and honestly I didn’t care. But we made money during those weeks. Quite well actually. Thalassa snatched wallets left and right from people who seemed to be well enough. Luna and I performed at the restaurant long hours on weekends and earned a lot. We also managed to help around the motel so we got discount from the room we were temporarily using. And whenever possible Luna spent her time at the New York Public Library, researching and sometimes even dragging me with her.

“I found it.” A heavy book was dropped on the table in front of me. A really dusty tome. Dust flew in the air from it. It was obvious that no one had read the book in a while. Maybe it had been hidden by the Mist. It seemed to be the answer to most of occurrences currently.

“Well then?” I drawled and pushed aside my books as my sister dearest plopped on the chair opposite me. She opened the tome with an unlegible title written on elaborate gold handwriting on the black leather cover.

“Eye of Hecate, Pandora and Lady Sky all belong to what this book calls the Godless Stones. They are said to be fragments of the powers of the gods of Greek Pantheon, created when said powers were used in large quantities so little fragments got chipped off. Apparently they didn't know how to regulate their power… Or didn’t care… But even though they are just fragments, they are immensely powerful. Thankfully regular mortals can’t use those powers but…-”

“…Who said you were regular.” I stated.

“Exactly.” She snapped her fingers and gave finger-guns at me. “This also tells how the gods can keep track of them if they wish so… There is only one stone per god at the moment because after some time overuse of power hasn’t appeared that much anymore and the control is better in all ways… And some of the stones have been destroyed at the hands of demigods because they didn’t know how to use them correctly.” She summarized from the book. From the constantly switching text, I concluded that the book was self-updating that was on the language that the reader deemed most comfortable. I decided not to guess which language Luna was using to read the book. Finnish as native language, English extremely well, Swedish moderately, French barely worth of mentioning, bits of Italian if the ‘Polly il pappagallo ès il Pollo’ comment was anything to go by, then Japanese fluently after our stay at Detective Conan’s world…

“And this book even has a map to all of the locations.” Her voice interrupted my train of thought. “According to it the first stone, Athene’s, is right here in this library. In ornithology section…”

“Why that does not surprise me…” I muttered. The Godless Stone of the Wisdom Goddess in a library… With birds. “I guess we need to go and take a look on the owl section then.” I got on my feet but Luna remained seated. “Sister? Tsukiko-neechan?”

“I was just thinking about this one sentence here…” She turned the book to face me. I leaned a bit to see the tiny text.

 _“One stone can be tracked soon. Two stones interfereth, Thrice them and thou aren’t seen. Dividing hidest one best.”_ It read. I wasn’t sure how original it was grammar-wise but the message was conveyed.

“I don’t understand what is problematic with it.” I stated calmly. “I assume this tells us that while the gods can track down their own stones, when there is more of them, they interfere with the signals of each other. They can still try to find concentration of godly powers but if the stones are divided to two people then the signal practically disappears.”

“Right… I hope you are right.”

“But in a sense gods can’t take the stones away personally just like they aren’t allowed to interfere with the quests or take each other’s symbols of power. They can though send creatures that will try to destroy the stones or set up quests for demigods to fetch stones for them.” I explained when I noticed another passage on the book.

“Well, we are lucky then that Kheiron isn’t allowing the demigods to go on quests right now. Well, have almost two years to find the stones we need.” Luna took the map – it copied itself – from the book and closed the heavy tome. As soon as it was closed, the book faded away, probably back to its hiding place. “Don’t worry, I already took notes on the useful stuff.” She added before we headed towards the biology section of the library. It was the time for some bird watching.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thank you for reading, please review. :)  
> This chapter didn't have that much references but I can explain some here too.
> 
> 1\. Luna Lovegood: My favourite character from Harry Potter books. This was quite obvious, yeah? ;)
> 
> 2\. Hacking: Clay was as Shugo brilliant and untracable hacker, he still has his skills in PJO world.
> 
> 3\. Piano playing: both my brother and I have been on piano lessons since we were approximately 7 years old. This applies on Clay and Luna too.
> 
> 4\. Lady Sky: I don't know if this was mentioned in the previous chapter but it's one gemstone from DC World. It was featured in the movie Lost Ship in the Sky.
> 
> 5\. Kaito: Kaito Kuroba, Canon charater from Magic Kaito. High schooler, magician and also known as the phantom thief Kaitou Kid. I made him Tsukiko's boyfriend since so many of my readers of Dream or Not want them to be together. I still haven't paired them up officially...
> 
> 6\. Finnish: Because this is my nationality an I've given it to these two, there will be some references. Like Luna's second name Autere and some mythology and language.
> 
> 7\. Autere: Old Finnish I guess. 'Aurinkousva' when it's meaning is opened up which means 'sunny haze' like I mentioned in the dialogue. (Aurinko=Sun, Usva=Mist)
> 
> And a little note to be mentioned that Luna and Clay will mostly use the Finnish pronounciacion and way of writing when it comes to Greek deities.


	3. In which we get a new friend and find home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wrecking stuff, meeting first mythological monster, feeling safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The treasure hunt begins.

**Chapter 3: In which we get a new friend and find home**

“This gotta be a joke…” I muttered as I looked at the bookshelves of the ornithology section in the biology hall of the New York Public Library. The shelves were high, very high, and a top of each was a bird statue. Each statue was different but they all were owls. And because they all were statues, one couldn’t really tell them apart. They were stone! With no colors! There was no way in Hades that we would find the stone even if we knew which bird to look for. And great, I was beginning to use the same expletives then rest of the demigods… But back to my point, this task was impossib-…

“Found it!” Luna’s voice echoed in the quiet hall. I turned to look in the direction of the voice. She was sitting atop of one of the shelves that had books about birds in southern Europe which not so coincidentally includes Greece. Of course. And she was sitting next to a statue about her size but from my point of view it looked almost bird sized. See! That’s how high the shelves were. And I did not want to know how she got up there. Probably climbed. I’ve heard from my mother how Luna used to climb into bookshelves when she was two or three. Yeah, she probably climbed. And these shelves were much steadier and sturdier then the ones at home.

“How did you know it was that one?” I pointed at the owl statue that Luna was hugging. There was three other statues too, one for each corner of the shelf.

“Because this is a Minerva owl.” She stated like it was obvious. Okay… An owl named after the Roman counterpart of Pallas Athene… That makes sense. The Godless Stones were as much for the Romans as they were for the Greek so naturally the goddess herself would guard the stone in a sense. But that didn’t explain how my sister recognized the owl. So I asked her.

“I’m been a bit obsessed with owls when I was younger… Blame Harry Potter books.” She grinned. Well, that explained a lot. She reached then for the owl’s left eye and plucked something out of it. From my point of view the statue didn’t seem to change much but I was very well aware that Luna had something on her palm. She held it against the light streaming in from the windows and we watched as the prism bended the light into a rainbow on the floor in front of me.

“Pallas Athene’s Clear Thought. A clear quartz. Gives a knowledge of languages to the user and helps to keep ones calm when solving riddles and forming plans. I think this might be handy eventually…” She mused before pocketing the stone and getting on her feet. She was about to climb down when something caught my eye.

“Matte!” I said, slipping in Japanese. Luna froze, her feet already touching the wood of the next shelf.

“What is it, Clay?”

“Is it just me… or are all the statues looking at us?” I was looking up at the owls on the bookshelf opposite the one the Stone was found from. They were staring right at me and Luna. Even the Minerva owl was with its left eye closed now.

“I guess… this won’t be as easy as we thought…Statues… How nice. Don’t blink. Don’t turn your back, don’t look away and don’t blink. Good luck.” My sister laughed nervously and climbed back up on the shelf. “Run!”

And I ran. We headed for the door that seemed to be entirely too far. I weaved around the shelves and tried to find my way while Luna run on top of the shelves, jumping from one to other. Behind us the stone owls had come to life.

“No use! We gotta fight!” I yelled at her.

“How? You are the only one with a weapon!” She shouted back, dodging an aerial attack from a barn owl and almost falling off from the shelf.

“Improvise! I cover for you!” I took my bow and notched an arrow. My eyes followed the once stony birds flying about and ready to dive at us and scratch and peck us to death. I took an aim when one owl was a bit too close to Luna.

The arrow flew through the air and hit the owl in the chest. It turned back into stone and fell on the floor where it cracked into pieces. Apparently these would be relatively easy to kill but still could drown us in masses.

While making my deductions, I failed to notice another owl approaching me until it was too late. I tried to shoot it down but it was too close already. So I did what anyone else would’ve done in my situation. I covered my head and hoped the worst would be over soon.

But the pain never came. Instead I heard slashing sound and more stone crumbling. I looked up behind my arms and saw Luna standing in front of me. And she had a long silver sword in her hand and it looked like she’d come down from the shelf by jumping in the back of one of the owls and crashed it atop of the one trying to kill me. Oh and she had also cut half yet another owl.

“You okay?” Luna asked without looking at me. She was glaring at the rest of the owls that didn’t feel like attacking at the moment.

“Yeah… But I have two questions…” I took my second arrow and notched it, ready for the next wave of attacks. “One, where did you get the sword? Two, are you sure that you are not a demigod too?”

“One, it is the Lady Sky.” She replied and I noticed that the sword, which was not Greek by the way, had a Lapis Lazuli between the blade and the handle and seemed to have some golden flecks all around it just like the stone used to have. “And two, yes. I’m certain. My sword is guiding my hand at the moment.”

“Okay. Good to know that you have my back.” No other words were needed. While Luna rushed towards the remaining birds, I let my arrows fly in a quick succession. There was something satisfying in seeing them hitting the targets and turning the owls back into stone. I never missed my target. Ten years of practice had ensured it, not my new heritage. And I wouldn’t let anyone claim otherwise.

* * *

 

After fifteen minutes the only owl remaining was the Minerva owl. The rest of the guardians were dust now. I took my last arrow and aimed it up high at an almost impossible angle. Luna was behind me, nursing the few wounds she’d received in the combat. But before I could release the arrow, the owl disappeared in a flash of light. With a huff, I lowered my _tsuru_.

“It probably went back to Athene.” Luna concluded. “Which means we need to get out of here.”

“We’ve got three stones altogether so she can’t track us down, right?” I confirmed. She just glanced at me.

“That’s what _you_ concluded from the book but yes, I believe so.” She made a motion as if to drop her sword on the floor but it vanished into her ring as soon as her fingers weren’t touching the handle anymore. I collected all of my arrows regardless of their state and noticed that the remains of the statues were grumbling further into finer dust.

* * *

We walked out of the library and slipped into the subway once again to get back to our motel. On the way Luna took the newly acquired Godless Stone from her pocket and showed it to me. It was clear, almost see-through and was neatly honed so it reflected sunlight on the building walls around us. And on it was carved a delicate and soft-looking feather.

“It’s beautiful.” I stated.

“Yes, it is…” Luna agreed and was about to say more when we heard a weird noise from somewhere on our right. There was a shady-looking street with dumpsters and other litter. It smelled of urine and sewage. I really didn’t fancy going in there but then we heard the noise again. It was like a horse… Sort of. Hard to say since there was an annoying echo.

“Let’s go.” I told Luna. She just nodded and followed me towards the noise. We dodged the shady piles of smelly stuff and puddles of something that I rather not thought about. I led us deeper into the alley, one of my used arrows already notched. If anything it could serve as a distraction were we to meet any dangerous people.

The neighing became louder as we rounded the last corner. My hand drew the string of my _tsuru_ tighter on an instinct when I came face to face with the sight. It was a beautiful black horse. So dark in color that he almost looked dark blue. The horse’s reins were tangled on some barbed wire on a fence and had been trying to tug himself free. That much I could see on one glance.

“Vetehishevonen!” Luna gasped next to me, the Finnish name of Kelpie coming from her lips. “Someone has tried to rein him but he managed to escape.”

“Rein… Oh, right!” I remembered now. The only way to tame vetehishevonen was to put him in reins but even then the horse would try and escape and make his new master’s life a miserable as possible.

“We gotta help it.” Luna told me and began walking towards the mythical horse. I kept my _tsuru_ drawn in the case the horse would try to hurt her. But the horse stood still, his black eyes staring straight at us.

“Be careful. Those guys like to eat people too. Except for the liver.” I muttered as she called for her sword again so she could cut the reins free from the wire.

“I would be more worried about his dragging me to the water.” She quipped lightly and _snick_ , the reins were free and intact still. The Kelpie remained standing and looking at us before nuzzling Luna cheek. My sister laughed. “That tickles. And you are very welcome.”

I lowered my _tsuru_ finally and walked towards the pair. The black eyes snapped to look at me before looking away from the street. A couple of other head gestures later I concluded that the Kelpie wanted us to climb on his back. When I voice the thought, Luna looked up at me in shock with some fear mixed in.

“I don’t think Kuroto will hurt us. We helped him after all.” I told her.

“Kuroto?” Luna repeated.

“Yeah… After my mentor.” I smiled and grabbed the reins. With the help of some abandoned wooden crates, we managed to clamber to the horse’s back. I was holding tightly Luna who had the reins for now. I didn’t want to take any risk of losing her one way or another. And as soon as we were steady, Kuroto broke into gallop at breakneck speed.

* * *

We raced through the streets of New York City. Time seemed to slow down around us. We passed the suburban areas too until a forest was seen. Where was this water horse taking us? But the question was answered soon as Kuroto slowed down and finally came to stop at small clearing with an old Japanese styled house in there. I slid off the horse’s back and helped Luna down too. I looked up at Kuroto.

“Why do you show this place for us?” I asked him. As an answer he just nudged me on the back and towards the house. Exchanging a glance with Luna, we made our way towards the porch. I took off my shoes before opening the rice paper door and stepping in. A living room greeted me. _Tatamis_ were on the floor and a low table in the middle of the room. I walked through the room and opened the next door that led to the corridor. The whole house was somewhat eerie, like it was abandoned. But it still was in pristine condition. True, there was layers of dust but there was no water damage or mold. I liked the place. Next to me Luna was looking around too.

“Do you think we could live in here?” She asked.

“Yeah… I guess that’s the reason Kuroto brought us here. We helped him and he helped us in return.”

“I think this house is magical.” She stated then.

“I think so too.” I’d found a little box from the shelf of the living room and opened it carefully. An amber was sitting in there. Amber like an ember… They’d found Hestia’s Heart(h). A stone that protected home from monsters and preserved the place like it’s remembered in fondest memories. “The previous owners probably left in hurry… Or then they died out there.”

“Maybe…” Luna had taken a peek into the box too. “But I don’t think they’d mind if we were to make this our home.”

“Yeah… Home…” I smiled at her. The word rang pleasantly in my mind. We had found a place to stay. Maybe now we could start relaxing finally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, the siblings start getting into more shenanigans.
> 
> Original A/N from FFN:  
> Do you know how weird it is that I already have plans for as far as after the HoO saga but I have only a vague idea what happens there... And before I explain some things I also encourage you to send me pairing suggestions. This is my first fic where I'll take romance somewhat more seriously but it still won't be the main concern. The pairings can be hetero, slash, femslash or even threesomes. No explict content will appear though or even mature. And I'd rather try to avoid lovetriangles. Onesided love is acceptable though.
> 
> 1\. Vetehishevonen: Or jokihevonen ("river horse") is a term for a Kelpie. I'm not sure how much the mythologies coincidence with each other but I'll stick into the Finnish version.
> 
> 2\. Finnish: Once again I put this one here. Better late than never. This one is about the pronounciation because both Clay and Luna will slip up in this department when it comes to Greek deities. We are quite literal in pronounciation to be honest. We have A and E and I, not 'ei' and 'ii' and 'ai'. It's hard to explain but basically it's similar to how Japanese pronounce their language. For example Chiron will be Kheiron when they say it and Hephaestos is Hefaistos. But I try to info you more about these when they appear. Okay? :)


	4. In which there are plans and scams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kids steal stuff, Clay has his first demigod dream and Luna prepares for school.

**Chapter 4: In which there are plans and scams**

Since we didn’t need to pay for the motel room anymore, we had more money to spend. At our new home we had running water and electricity that for some reason weren’t billed. Not that I complained. If no post was carried here, less chance for mortals finding us. Kuroto decided to stay with us though. He could also turn into a motorcycle when needed which was quite cool (though a bit weird) in my opinion. We could go city and back in a matter of minutes and trusted Kuroto not to his any trees on the way.

All the while though we made plans for the immediate future. Once I got a computer for myself, I made us bank accounts with enough money for Luna to go to Yancy Academy. She stated that she wanted to go there for a year, fail, and repeat the class so she’d be next year on the same class with Percy Jackson. I didn’t question it. She probably just wanted to go to Kheiron’s Latin classes. I in the other hand was to go to Camp Half-Blood next month, keep my head down so I wouldn’t be claimed. That was easy enough though… And then run away on the summer right before the summer session ended. Just to mess up with people.

We also managed to find the next stone for Luna. It was a rose quartz and named Beauty of Love. Naturally it was Afrodite’s but despite its name it only allowed to change the wearer’s appearance and had nothing to with actual love. It was found from a pawn shop at relatively cheap price, not that they’d bought it. Thalassa had been so thrilled about the stone so much that she’d swiped it from the window and promptly changed into more comfortable look as soon as she’d exited the shop.

And thieving didn’t stop. Oh, not at all. We broke into a museum to get a sort of an vambrace and belt for Luna to hold her stones. The vambrace had room for only three stones while the belt had places for twelve. Both were made of silver though. I also got a bracelet with places for four stones. Luna stated that she’d probably give me some useful ones.

And of course we didn’t stop stealing wallets. It was fun. Weaving through the crowds and flitching the leather books left and right. Open handbags and back pockets of jeans just craved being emptied. Maybe it was the adrenaline talking. With me being a demigod and Thalassa being a clepto were explanation enough. And one night we did our stupidest and greatest gig.

It was surprisingly simple trick that Luna had seen on television years ago. It needed two people, a pair of escalators and a victim wearing his wallet in a back pocket. We found the escalators from a subway. I was at the bottom of them, leaning casually against the wall and scanning the crowd. I could see Thalassa at the top of them, reading a newspaper but still keeping an eye on me. I turned my eyes back to the people milling about and… bingo. I had my target.

The target was quite a muscular man with ragged jeans and a black leather jacket. He had that bad boy/motorcyclist look on him and on hindsight I probably should’ve stayed far away from him. I put my head phones over my ears and tugged my cap deeper in my head to cover the upper part of my face and walked after the man. I made sure no one went between as we boarded the escalator and I _stumbled_ onto him.

“Sorry.” I muttered, taking a miniscule step back as much as possible in packet escalators.

“You better be, punk.” The man growled at me. I just bowed my head to hide my smile. The little collision had been just enough for me to tug the wallet halfway out of his pocket. I waited until Thalassa, who was taking the escalator down with her newspaper still open, was in the right place and with a smooth flick of a wrist I sent the wallet flying to her. She caught the thick leather wallet with the newspaper which she folded neatly then and put into her shoulder bag. The deed was done and the man in front of me had noticed nothing.

At the top of the escalators I waited until the man was out of sight before heading to the alley where Kuroto was waiting for Luna and I. Once there I didn’t need to wait for long until the faintly shimmering form of my sister walked to us. She pocketed Afrodite’s Stone and we climbed the water horse.

“We probably shouldn’t have taken that wallet.” I told Luna. She shrugged and hugged me tighter. We had agreed that I’d ride on the front since I had more experience on horses.

“Probably not.” She agreed. “But what’s done is done.”

“True.”

“’All is fair in love and war except love in war and war in love.’” She quoted.

“Yet they date each other.” I couldn’t help but commenting. Luna snickered.

* * *

 

I let out a low whistle while counting the money from Ares’ wallet. With this alone we could pay Luna’s schooling for two years. And there were also several golden drachmas.

“When are you thinking about going to school?” I asked my sister who was lounging on her stomach next to me and reading a library book.

“Hmm… A bit before you are going to Camp Half-Blood. I need you masquerading as my father after all.” She replied and finally deigned to look up from her book. Her eyes widened at the amount of money in stacks in front of her. “Where did you get all that?”

“From the wallet.” I answered. “It’s almost empty now.”

“Bigger on the inside?”

“Bigger on the inside.”

“What’s left in there?”

“Umm…” I peeked into the wallet and pulled a face. “You really don’t want to know.”

“C’mon, it can’t be anything that bad.”

“It isn’t something to put into a wallet.” I told her. Luna sat up and extended her hand towards me, silently telling to hand over the leather book. “You really, _really_ , don’t want to know.”

My sister just silently stared at me. I sighed and tossed over the wallet. What else could I’ve done? She took a look inside and let out a string of curses before dumping the item out and atop of the money. We stared together and with matching disgusted looks at the pink lacy string. Just... TMI-warning.

“Why the hell does he have his girlfriend’s underwear in his wallet?” Luna spoke, gingerly picking the garment (if you could actually call it one) with a pen and going to dump it in the dumpster.

“Who says it’s-…” I began with a grin even though the idea itself repulsed me.

“Don’t you dare finish that thought!” Luna yelled. “Keep your guttermind away from me.” She growled once emerging from the kitchen.

“Okay, I’m in dire need of brain bleach myself now…” I muttered. “Or a stiff drink.”

“We are underage. We can’t drink. And brain bleach doesn’t exist. At least not in mortal stores.”

“Pity.”

“And you better clean that wallet properly before using it to store anything else.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Why did my sister have to be so bossy?

* * *

 

That night I dreamt. I think it was a demigod dream. Those that are warnings or something actually happening at the same moment. I think this was the latter type.

I dreamt falling through clouds. My eyes were just barely open to see the blue sky above me and the white puffs skidding past. And then my fall stopped. I found myself lying on marble floor. It was bright around me so I just let my eyes rest. The stop itself hadn’t hurt me at all.

So I just laid there, listening what was going on around me. Or rather next to me. All the voices were coming from only one direction.

“I’m telling you, I did not lose my wallet!” A male voice growled. That one sentence told me clearly who was talking and where I was. This would be interesting to hear.

“Are you certain? You have been losing some other things lately too.” A woman’s voice drawled before scoffing, “Men…” Well, that cleared her identity.

“Basically Ares is saying that his wallet got stolen then? Maybe it was one of your kids Hermes.” Another woman spoke. I threw in a vague guess that she was Athene. She spoke quite strictly though with faint amusement towards the war god’s situation.

“Nah, I doubt it. What little I’ve managed to keep an eye on them, they are either at the Camp or then at school. Or alternatively too young to walk alone.” The messenger replied with a clear grin heard from his voice.

“Hey, Ares, do you know any situation where it could been stolen? You said you noticed it missing once here and the last time you needed it was hours ago.” Another male voice, relatively young, spoke. This one seemed to be located closest to me. I was quite sure he was Apollo since the other people in the room seemed to be Olympians but of the younger generation.

“The idiot could probably lose his own head if it weren’t attached to his shoulders…” Three guesses who that was… One guess what will be the insult coming next…

“Shut up, cripple!” Bingo. “There was a bunch of mortals around as always. I don’t get how they can use those cave trains daily…”

“So you used a subway then.” Hermes concluded. “Those places are quite ideal for pickpockets…”

“You would know…” Athena sighed.

“Did someone bump into you there? That’s quite a common tactic.” Artemis asked then. Maybe she and her hunters had been using the subway once or twice. Or not. The amount of people and drunks and _men_ would lead several people injured or dead. It was one’s own choice which one of the two was worse. I’d peg for the former one.

“…” Silence reigned the room as Ares thought. Actually thought. Which was quite surprising in itself. “That little punk…” He growled then.

“Oh, so someone did steal your wallet. Without you noticing it that is.” Apollo grinned. Now I decided to open my eyes and sit up. The six Olympians were sitting in a loose circle. The order was Apollo, Hermes, Hefaistos, Athene, Ares, and Artemis with Apollo sitting his back towards me. I was practically hiding behind the music god’s chair. Apparently my currently smaller size of thirteen year old was quite handy. They all were human sized thankfully and wearing more or less ancient Greek influence clothing with some differences naturally. The five of them were trading amused looks between themselves while Ares was fuming. Which meant the explosion was a-coming.

That is if I hadn’t chosen that moment to peek around Mr. Sunshine and get Athena notice me.

“And who are you?” The wisdom goddess asked me sternly. Everyone’s attention was on me. And Mr. Short-fuse was at the end of that fuse.

“You…” Ares growled menacingly.

“Oh, hello to you too.” I waved cheerily. “I gotta say… This is quite interesting of a dream.”

“You took my wallet…” Ares said through gritted teeth while I got on my feet and dug my hands into the pockets of my sweatpants.

“I might’ve.” I grinned. “But I promise the money is going to good use.”

“You said this is a dream for you…” Artemis was frowning at me. I glanced at her, keeping the smile on my face before shrugging.

“Well, yeah… I went to sleep, then fall through clouds, land on the floor without any pain and see all of you. What else could this be?” I stated and brought my hand in front of my face. “Not to mention that I’m still in my night wear and quite see-through to the boot… Interesting concept though, being see-through that is. I can vaguely see what is on the other side of my hand but I can’t see what’s inside my hand even though it’s not consisted of one piece but skin and muscles and bones… But I look quite pasty anyways.” I tugged a strand of my hair in front my eyes. It was now about the same color than Luna’s, not the saturation upped version anymore but toned down. It was quite a relief. But was it because of the see-throughness or because of that's how I perceived myself. And if it was the case of latter one, why was I still thirteen and not nineteen?

“You’re a demigod then.” Athena stated while keeping me under scrutiny.

“That’s what my sister tells me.” I answered easily. Hmm, I wonder what all I could do in this dream of mine. Dreams are figments of imagination after all. “I’m not at the Camp yet though.”

“But you are going.” The goddess continued.

“Yeah. In a few weeks I guess. It’s not like I’m going to school at the moment.” I flicked my fingers and a golden drachma plopped on my left palm. It was like me, not quite there and dimmer of color. I let the coin roll across my fingers before flicking back up. I let it fall and disappear right before hitting the floor.

“Hey, you said you are going to use Ares’ money for something good, what is it?” Hermes asked eagerly then.

“It’s for my sister and her school. We’ve been collecting for a while and that wallet was such a jackpot. Bigger on the inside even. Though the last surprise in there was quite nasty.” I shuddered.

“Do I want to know?” This time – surprisingly – it was Hefaistos who spoke.

“ _You_ really don’t. Though I think you can make an educated guess about the matter.” The face I made was probably enough of an answer to him. I wonder if they could read my thoughts even though I wasn’t physically there with them.

“You little punk… I swear I’ll track you down and make you suffer…” Ares growled.

“You are welcome to try.” I challenged. Stupid move, yeah, but it was just so fun to see him so riled up. “I’m pretty well hidden.” And with those words of goodbye I woke up.

* * *

 

A day before we were to enroll Luna to Yancy Academy was for relaxing. Sort of. Luna had strewn her things all around our second living room which was of western style. And those things weren't clothes or other personal stuff like that. No, she’d packed those ages ago. This stuff was papers and maps and books. Lots of scientific texts. She had a project. She wanted to prove that at least some of the science she’d learn at school applied and not everything revolved around gods. I wished her luck, she’d need it. Especially since she was practically tearing herself apart to hold onto what she’d believed in her whole life. She’d studied biology, geography and history. And about everything about them could be countered with the actions of gods and goddesses.

“I met the girl scouts today.” Luna stated suddenly from where she was reading an astrology book. One of the few that didn’t cause her a headache. “I was around New Jersey with Kuroto.”

“Did you piss them off?” I asked back while glancing at the music notes in front of me. It was some Disney song Luna had copied for me. The movie was Pocahontas if I remembered correctly.

“Yeah. I told them a fact.”

“Science fact?”

“Yes…” There was hesitation in her voice.

“What fact was it?”

“Moon doesn’t shine but reflects sunlight. Without the sun we couldn’t see the moon.”

“Ouch.”

“Indeed.”

“But I guess we don’t need to expect them to appear on our doorstep to sell cookies.”

“Definitely not. Especially after I told them they act like their physical age and are discriminating androphobics.”

“Androphobic? Doesn’t that mean to have fear of men?” I asked curiously.

“Yeah. That’t what they are basically, right? Their mental state is frozen to what it was when they took the oath, probably quite soon after some man wronged them somehow. Intense fear turned into intense hatred but otherwise during those centuries they have been alive they have never been actually get over from whatever happened to them. Pity them. To protect their own minds they are living in the delusion that women are better than men. I understand it now.” Luna shifted on her seat and gazed out of the window. “They haven’t had a chance to actually talk about what happened to them. It’s good that they have each other to hold on to but in the end they just fuel each other’s hatred when they hear what _men_ have done. They see only the negative side of things. What they all need is a good example of male species and maybe a couple of dozen sessions with a good psychiatrist. That is if they are still salvageable.”

“You are right. But I think they all are too far lost and blinded to see anything outside what they’ve experienced and hear. They won’t believe that not everyone is the same.” I told my sister while studying her expression. “You want to help them.”

“In a way yes. At first I thought they’d just be something I could laugh at and think to never become… But now I know they are just lost little girl’s flocking around their savior who shields them from further truth. I still stand on what I said earlier about them but now I see the other side of them too.”

“How do you think you can help them if you made them hate you?”

“I don’t know. Just like I can’t accept the way the existence of gods are twisting the facts of life.”

We fell into silence which was surprisingly comfortable. That was how we spent the last day together.


	5. In which I move towards my destiny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clay goes to Camp. And starts off with lies, pissing off California Girls and breaking rules.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a fun chapter to remember. I hope you also like this to a degree.

**Chapter 5: In which I move towards my destiny**

Getting Luna to school was nothing short of embarrassing. I had used the Beauty of Love to turn myself into an adult (an experience that was quite painful in itself). For the short meeting with the principal I was Eric Cykes, the father of Luna. And of Clay too, sort of. The story was that the siblings’ mother (who had been named Polly much to my chagrin) had been pregnant with Clay when she’d met Eric. After birth they’d married and later on Luna had been born. And Clay kept his mother’s surname for some odd reason, making people think the duo were cousins. Oh! And the surname for Polly and Clay was Gavin! Like Klavier Gavin from AA games! Luna had practically swooned when she’d told me that. Klavipollo she’d said and had refused to change it. So now we were officially Luna Autere Cykes and Clay Silas Gavin. Maybe I could handle this. Or not. After all I managed to slip up and call Clay ‘Polly’s boy’. Luna so wasn’t going to let me live this down.

But she made it safely to Yancy and I helped her to settle in her dorm room. We bid goodbye to each other and she wished me luck on the Camp and extracted a promise from me to call every week. She also told me she’d try and figure how to use the Eye of Hecate to create magic items for us to use. I wished her luck and silently hoped that it would take her thoughts away from natural order of things in this world.

So now I was looking around our house. My stuff was already packed. I had played the last song on the piano in western living room. With a sigh I walked to yet another room where The Hearth of Hestia was, placed on the mantelpiece. I sent a short prayer to the Goddess of Home and Heart to protect our home and finally walked to the front porch where Kuroto was waiting for me.

“Alright then, mate, it’s time to go.” I smiled to him and climbed on. Time to head to Long Island.

* * *

 

About a half a mile from the Camp, I dismounted Kuroto. It wouldn’t do any good to let the campers see him. I didn’t want any extra question as I was sure that my attitude would raise more than few of them. So I bid the river horse a good bye and began running towards the camp and the great pine tree atop of the Half-Blood Hill. I couldn’t see my destination yet but inside of me felt like I had an inner compass that was drawing me to the right direction.

But then something caught my eye. And ear. A strange grunting noise, followed by an ‘oink’. I turned to look at my right and my eyes widened at the sight. Boars! Giant boars of the size of the pigs in HunterXHunter cooking challenge! And they were no doubt summoned by Ares. I really shouldn’t have challenged him.

“To Hell with this…” I muttered, mentally refusing to slip into Greek slurs. I took my _tsuru_ bow and nocked an arrow. There was five boars. Five. Like the cabin number. I had fourteen arrows. Fourteen. Like the number that the Olympian council should be (add Hades and Hestia). It meant I had plenty of chances in hitting but I decided not to waste any of them. I turned and let the first arrow fly in the middle of the first boar’s forehead. It turned into golden dust. Without waiting I already sent the next arrow at the boar that had run to my left side. I had the third arrow ready when I had to dodge two boars and roll in the ground in order avoid getting run over by the last one. I rose to one knee and in quick succession took out the two wild pigs. They were gone in a burst of dust. Only two were left. The second and fifth ones. Apparently my aim had been a bit off of the second one and had hit it on the stomach instead of the soft flesh underneath the chin. The fifth boar had run over a young oak and then hit the protective barrier of the camp. The second one was heading in my direction.

Everything went like in a slow motion. I drew an arrow and nocked it. I took aim and pulled the string back. I let go.

The boar fell with a massive wail which alerted both the camp (if they hadn’t already noticed me) and the last boar. With the sixth arrow – Six. Like the number of Kronos’ godly children. – I took out the pig. I heaved a sigh of relief. Fighting monsters was more strenuous than I’d initially thought. But I managed quite well. Of course my entrance wasn’t grand like Percy’s would be – Minotaurus, really? – but I still took down five enemies. And I was not covered in the golden dust that the wind just _had to_ blow at me. Disgusting. I shivered. Because in the end being covered in _this_ gold dust was equivalent to being covered in monster blood and guts. Not cool man!

With wobbly knees I got back on my feet and began my trek up-hill. At the pine tree I stopped and looked up at the needles. I laid a hand on the trunk which was faintly warm and pulsing, _alive_.

“Hello, Thaleia. Nice to meet you. My name is Clay. I hope we can be friends.” I murmured to her and hoped she could hear me. I wonder how many people actually visited her. I mean, it wasn’t like she was actually dead or anything. Just resting, suspended in time.

* * *

Through the gate I walked to before the gaping demigods and satyrs. Chiron also trotted to the front.

“And you might be?” The centaur asked with a British accent.

“My name is Clay Gavin. I was told to come here, Camp Half-Blood, since… well, because I’m a demigod I suppose.” I shrugged at the last notion. “I hope there is still room for me or should I have booked a place beforehand?” I grinned then at my ‘joke’.

“No, no.” My ‘worries’ were waved away. “You are welcome here. May I ask where your Protector is?”

“Protector?” I feigned confusion. At this I noticed the campers beginning to disperse.

“Yes, a satyr is usually assigned to a demigod… But if you are without one…” Chiron trailed off.

“I don’t have one. My sister told me to come here.” And now would begin the interference without interfering. Telling something without actually telling anything and letting others to draw the conclusions.

“Ah, I see. And your sister…?” Fishing for information now, horse man? Thankfully there was only a handful of other kids left.

“She… She couldn’t… She didn’t…” I shut up. There was many ways those sentences could’ve ended. She couldn’t come. She couldn’t handle the truth. She didn’t make it. She didn’t like my new boots…

“I’m sorry for your loss then.” Chiron smiled sympathetically and gestured me to follow. I did and we walked towards the barn house that was known as the Big House. How imaginative… And _please_ note the sarcasm.

“You are not hurt badly I hope.” The centaur’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

“Just some scrapes but they’ll go away in a couple of days. My sister wasn’t that lucky.” Because she is stuck at Yancy.

“I see. Am I right in assuming that you know enough to settle in here without much of an explanation? We do have an orientation video but it’s not always used. Sometimes children are well aware of their heritage.”

“Yeah, no need.” I nodded absently. “My sister practically spoon-fed me with information.” And that sentence suggested that she was older than me. “And made me read Ilias in Ancient Greek…”

“You mean Iliad.” Chiron corrected.

“Wasn’t that what I said?” Was my nonchalant reply. Damn, I really preferred Finnish names of things… But well, if I ever were to write about them differently, I could always put it down on my supposed dyslexia.

“We’ll put you into the Hermes cabin at first… Unless you’ve been claimed?”

“Claimed?” Repeat and ask. Make yourself seem less knowledgeable than you actually are.

“Yes. The godly parent usually claims their children at some point and then the children move to their parent’s cabin. Undetermined and those of the minor gods sleep at Hermes cabin since Lord Hermes is also the god of travelers.” The centaur explained.

“…Why?”

“Excuse me?”

“I understand why it’d be Hermes who looks after the unclaimed ones and the kids of minor gods but why is that necessary? I mean… Mr. Messenger must have his own kids too, right? Won’t that cabin be ridiculously cramped then? Why don’t the others have their own cabins?” It always bothered me. The obvious and blatant favoring of the Olympians.

“It’s just how the things are.” And the horse didn’t care or didn’t dare to voice his opinion. Maybe then he’d actually join his constellation Sagittarius. Well, I made a mental note to find some other place to sleep. Wooden floors were much more uncomfortable to sleep than forest floor for example.

“Are you in charge in here?” I decided to ask then even though I already knew the answer.

“No. But I’m a second in command if you wish to place me somewhere. I generally direct campers though since Mr. D isn’t overly fond of you demigods.”

“Right…” I knew the truth though. I knew why gods were distant with their children and children of others and that wasn’t because of the Ancient Law. No, it was-…

“Yes, you’ll meet him soon enough. I sent one of the satyrs inform him about a new camper. I usually would do that myself while the camper is resting but you weren’t injured too badly so you don’t need to spend time at the infirmary.” Chiron told me with a wry chuckle.

“Do the monsters stalk the surroundings of the camp then? I noticed they couldn’t get in… Protective barrier, right?”

“Exactly. But no. Monsters merely track down the scent of demigods that they can sense from great distances.” He was eyeing me suspiciously now. Maybe because I wasn’t in shock or even sad due my sister’s supposed death. Well, I never told him she was dead so why should I be upset?

* * *

Meeting Mr. D was interesting. He ‘welcomed’ me to the camp and asked if I could play pinochle. I answered that I knew the rules but had never played. The fourth to join us was Annabeth Chase. I tried hard not to grit my teeth while she was eyeing me speculatively. I could practically see the gears turning in her head as she obviously thought I was ‘the one’ she as destined to go on a quest. I just hoped I wouldn’t need to spend too much time with her. She was annoying. I could see was just barely refraining from asking questions and I think that was only of the influence of Mr. D’s presence.

Eventually the game came to the end. Not much was discussed after I established I knew relatively lot already and practically just needed to settle in and get a tour.

“This place seems interesting to me… I wonder how much trouble I’ll manage to cause.” I stated calmly while laying my cards on the table, besting both Annabeth and Mr. D but not Chiron. My notion made the centaur cringe though. I could see he was already mentally placing me. I bet it wasn’t easy if possible at all. I was originally plain human after all.

“You should not go around intentionally causing trouble.” Annabeth frowned at me.

“Who said I’d be doing it on purpose, Betty?” Yes, anything to infuriate the girl. She was only ten after all.

“Don’t call me Betty.” She hissed like a goose. Not a cat. Cats at least are cute.

“Should I call you a clone then?” I snapped. And before she could reply back, Chiron interfered.

“That’s enough you two. Annabeth, please show Clay the way to the Hermes cabin.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Clay, I’ll see you later.” The centaur nodded at me.

“Alright then, Kheiron.” I shrugged and got up, giving a short bow to Mr. D. The god merely grunted and drank some Diet Coke. He was assessing me calmly. Probably because I kept calling people slightly differently than the rest. For example when Annabeth had challenged me to figure out Mr. D’s full name, I had said ‘Dionys **o** s’ not ‘Dionys **u** s’. And when I’d mentioned Zeus, it didn’t sound like it was supposed to rhyme with ‘shoes’. And now there was ‘Kheiron’… Oh, well… I wasn’t a native English speaker though I didn’t really have an accent to any direction…

* * *

But we were dismissed, Annabeth leading me towards Cabin 11. She was frowning.

“What’s with the sour face, Betty?” Poke, poke, kaboom.

“Stop calling me that!”

“Why?”

“Because it is not nice!” Wow, you are eloquent, daughter of Athena. I merely smirked at her flushed face and walked a bit faster. With my longer legs, I got her jog after me quite quickly. “How do you even know the route?” She enquired then.

“There is only twelve cabins here, one for each Olympian. I saw them earlier. Kheiron mentioned earlier that the number is eleven… So I think I can navigate on my own and if not, then I can ask directions from someone at my new resting place.” Not final one, just the next one.

She was obviously disgruntled that she couldn’t show off her skills at me and I’d rather ask help from trickster cabin that from her, the oh-so-reliable-know-it-all. But nevertheless we came to the cabin door on which the girl knocked before opening it. I stepped in with one fluid motion.

“Hello, my name is Clay Gavin. I was told to room with you guys.” I greeted them.

“Regular or undetermined?” One of the kids sitting on the bunk beds asked. There was another similar looking kid sitting next to him. I guessed they were Travis and Connor Stoll since they had more likeness between each other than with the rest of the kids while still sharing some features. At then I looked around more closely. Yeah, the place was crowded. No one was on the floor yet but by the time one and half years would turn, that was entirely possible. Because really. The gods didn’t claim their kids that often and even then something should happen to impress them. And like I’d noted before the kids of minor gods and goddesses still stayed there. It was degrading. Not considered worthy of having own space.

“Undetermined.” I stated quickly, having noticed that Annabeth was about answer for me. No thank you. I can take care of myself. “Where can I bunk?”

“Here.” A tall blond kid waved from the left side of the room. From the scar I recognized him as Luke Castellan, the counsellor of Hermes cabin. He was by the bed farthest from the door. Probably the last free one. Nevertheless I strode to him. The older boy introduced himself to which I answered warmly. There was nothing bad in being friends for now. I probably wouldn’t be making many during my time here anyways…But for now I only wanted to dump by backpack somewhere and get some rest.

Unfortunately Annabeth seemed to have some other ideas: I barely got my bag off my shoulders when she was already dragging me out of the cabin. She probably couldn’t handle being in the same room with her crush a moment longer. Girls are weird. Except for Luna. She is my sister. I know her and her quirks. And she isn’t overly girly. Thank heaven for that.

But now I was being dragged around the camp like a sideshow attraction. People where whispering about how I defeated some monsters but apparently none of them were sure which monsters they were. After all they hadn’t seen the actual fight, just heard the noise.

“He took them down with just a bow?”

“Gotta be Apollo kid…”

“Strange looking bow though…”

“Are you sure it’s a bow?”

“Maybe he didn’t use it actually…”

“Fighting with bare hands…”

“Could he be Ares kid then?”

“He is so handsome.”

I glared at the group in annoyance. Shouldn’t they have lessons? Ah, but of course not. Gossiping is much more important.

“So, Betty… Was there a purpose on this tour or not? Because, frankly, I told you already that I can find my own way here.” I decided to ask then.

“Chiron told me to show you around.” She replied.

“Actually he didn’t. He only told you to show me the way the Hermes cabin.” I retorted and turned on my heels to stalk back to the cabin a possibly catch some sleep before dinner. But then I caught what she muttered.

“I can’t believe I thought you were the one.” I froze and turned slowly to glare at her.

“Excuse me?”

“You. I thought I would finally get the chance on a quest. You just took down single-handedly several monsters so I thought the one I was waiting for finally arrived. I’m sick of this place. I’ve been here for three years already!” She scowled at me. “And then you come and be such a jerk! I can’t believe I let myself to be deluded.”

I was angry. She just went and made assumptions on me after knowing me only two hours max.

“Oh, look at that… Little Betty is talking trash.” I growled at her. “Listen up, girl. I’ve been here only a few hours. I literally just walked in from those gates after fighting for my life. Then you come and think I’m some prophesied idiot that’d take _you_ on a quest. You barely even know me. You call me jerk while all you’ve been doing is trying to undermine everything I do. Don’t think I didn’t notice you trying to speak for me at Hermes cabin or purposefully keeping me away from them so you could be buddy-buddy with me. You know nothing about me. I just arrived, what makes you think I want to leave? And more-over why should I take you with me?”

“I know plenty of you.” Annabeth bit back. Oh, here it comes. “I bet you were moved around from school to school. Kicked out of some of them.”

“Actually I’ve been homeschooled.” There was no way I’d tell her about my time in DC World after I’d shrunk. There I’d started in Tokyo, moved to a little village in Nagano, junior high in Osaka then and finally high school back in Tokyo. Yeah no way, José.

“Diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia.”

“Nope, there was never a need.” Since I’ve been in this world only for bit over a month.

“And letters float off the page when you read, right?” Still a no but I didn’t feel like correcting her anymore. She’d just push on like a steam engine. And she did. “That’s because your mind is hardwired for Ancient Greek…” And it went on and on… It was the same lecture she’d give to Percy Jackson too. Geez, some people never change.

“Did I already say that I was home schooled? Or that there was _never a need_ for me to get diagnosed with either of the two?” I asked when she stopped to draw a breath. “And what I told about those two, it’s a sure thing in every demigod, right? That tells nothing about _me_. You know nothing about me.”

“You’ve a sister who told you to come here while she died on the way.” The blonde blurted out then. I refrained from socking her in the face. Instead with deathly calm I asked:

“Were you eavesdropping?”

She seemed startled.

“I thought so…” I continued. “I, in the other hand, know a bit about people like you. You seem to think that you know the best. Better than anyone else. You won’t listen to arguments because there is no way in the world that you are wrong. You pride yourself on your knowledge so I guess you are Pallas Athene’s daughter. Kheiron trusts you to show newbies around the camp so you must have somewhat privileged position here too. Probably you are the counsellor of your cabin even though you are so young. Hmm… Maybe you are your mother favourite because I doubt you are the eldest of your siblings. You have not been outside of this camp after arriving, otherwise you wouldn’t be harping me about the quest. This quest is your obsession but how you can know about it beforehand… Ah, yes… There must be a prophesy spouter somewhere here… Maybe an oracle like from Delfoi?” I looked at her in confirmation. She nodded, stunned. “You are constantly judging me and trying to pinpoint who is my godly parent. I guess that’s because you want to make up your mind whether I’m _worthy_ of staying friends with. That is quite stupid by the way. Why should the opinions of your parent have an effect on whose kids you talk with? Nevermind that, you just want to place me into those quaint little categories you and everyone else here have formed about each other. Well too bad! I’m a human. Much more than any of you and I won’t just bend over and obediently trot into my stall.”

“Wha-…”

“You know… I got much more out of you than you got out of me during this time we knew each other.” I smirked down at her. “And I have to say that for a daughter of the Wisdom Goddess you are quite stupid…”

“Don’t patronize me-“

“Because it’s one thing to swallow an encyclopedia and quote it to verbatim in any situation without questioning the contents at all and it’s another thing to read that encyclopedia, understand it and quote the information in it when it’s needed.”

“I told you not to patronize me!” The girl finally yelled.

“I’m not patronizing. I’m being mean and truthful.” And with that I left her standing on the field. One might wonder why I was as mean as I was. Well, the truth is that Luna used to be called a walking encyclopedia when she was of the age she was again here. But it was perfectly well-mannered nickname. She knew things a bit beyond her age group and shared the knowledge when asked. Annabeth in the other hand… She was just plain annoying. She was a know-it-all who didn’t know when to shut up.

* * *

But I didn’t make my way to the Hermes cabin. No. I went almost straight back to the Big House. Once there I hid away from sight and found the fire escape from the back of the building. I swiftly climbed on the roof and went to find easily accessible window to the attic. Because really, one needed to ventilate the place once in a while. And naturally because no one ever went there just for fun (the mummy must’ve creeped them out) there was no need to keep the window locked. So I just pulled in open gently and slipped in.

I landed on the floor with a crouch. With grimace I nodded that I’d be leaving foot prints on the dust. I could only hope that the dust would gather quickly and no one would eventually notice the traces of my visit. Oh well…

I straightened up and made my way to the Oracle in the other end of the room, the end of the house that pointed to the rest of the area; I had come in from the forest side where the staircase also was. And once I stood before _it_ , green smoke billowed out. I had hard time not to cover my nose even though the smoke didn’t smell anything.

And the smoke spoke: _“I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask.”_

I frowned a bit, wondering how to phrase my question. In the end I just decided to speak my mind. “My sister and I are knew to this world. I need to know if there is a prophecy or something similar concerning either of us.”

The smoke formed to show a forest and two figures running in it. I recognized them as Luna and I. A bit older but still us. The figures kept running as the smoke spoke its prophecy for me… and her.

 _“The Godless and the Archer are going to make a stand._  
They ask guidance from forgotten ones of their land.  
But stand back and watch them run,  
Those saviors of Moon and Sun.  
Those champions of Dusk and Dawn.  
And neither of them is a pawn.  
Nothing is hindrance as they make their entrance.  
End is closing when separation comes.  
And the closure won’t arrive at once.  
For past is future and future is past.  
They will help forge the peace meant to last.”

I wrote it down and gulped slightly. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Ominous it definitely was.

“T-Thank you very much.” I bowed slightly and as the smoke slithered into the mummy again, I slipped out of the window again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original A/N from FFN:  
> I'm sorry Annabeth fans but I had to. I had to critize her somehow. She has been rubbing me wrong way. And don't worry, Clay will critizise others too. He has a lot to say.  
> For some reason this chapter and Clay's words to Annabeth remind me of Riker Jackson, a badass version of Percy. You really need to read that fic. It's amazing. Percy became a character he could've been. (In my opinion)  
> And there is a prophecy. Naturally. Those are must have in all fanfics, right? I had surprisingly lot of fun writing it.  
> But now, please review. The pairing suggestions are still open. Personally I've been thinking Clay with Thalia (not ending up together because of Hunters though) and Luna with Hermes (pretty much platonic though because she is so young). Canon pairings still exist but you can throw in some too.


	6. In which there is smoke, ash and fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Camp life, Clay inserts game references and author fails at mathing Capture the Flag game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter should probably take place in October but with snow... Oh well...
> 
> And I just realized I had done some research fail when originally writing this... For some reason I called Shugo's Japanese style bow a tsuru... even though it should be yumi? Well, fixing it here from this chapter on.
> 
> And... please tell me if Clay comes off too Gary Stu.

**Chapter 6: In which there’re smoke, ash and fire**

“Where were you?” Luke asked me as soon as I got back to the Hermes cabin. “Annabeth told me you were coming here but…”

“Just around. I wanted to have a look on my pace.” I waved a hand dismissively and propped my quiver and arrows against my bed post. My  _yumi_ was placed atop of the covers. “Is the dinner soon?”

“Yes. In a couple of minutes.” The counsellor sat down on his bed and patted the space next to him. I sat down too. “What do you think of this place this far?”

I shrugged. “Quite nice I guess. I miss my family of course and I haven’t participated in the activities yet but I suppose I’ll get along just fine.”

“That’s good to hear.” Luke grinned, the scar on his face twisting slightly in the dim October light. I supposed it was around half a year old scar. At least that’s what the known timeline suggested.

“Hey, Luke… Since you’ve been here so long… do you know which gods and goddesses usually claim their children quickly?” I decided to ask then. At my question some of the other teens who also were in the cabin looked up too.

“Hmm… Well, it depends a lot. Some are claimed even before arriving like Annabeth and I.” The blonde teen frowned for a moment before continuing to contemplate the answer. “I heard Clarisse was too… But otherwise some of the campers are claimed during the first camp fire if not when they enter the Camp. Hephaestus, Apollo and Demeter claim theirs quite soon, with Apollo having the best track record this far. Ares and Athena usually wait until the child impresses them somehow. Aphrodite drags on for a long time. I suppose she is too busy pairing everyone up and then messing with their love lives… And Hermes… Well, he isn’t known as the busiest of the gods for nothing.” The last part was said bitterly and I’d wager Luke rather had said something much more unsavory if some younger kids hadn’t been in the cabin too. And I had just arrived so he probably didn’t want to give me a bad impression.

“How about the minor gods?”

“The children of the Olympians don’t generally pay attention to them. Their children are just considered an extension of Hermes cabin. We are a wanted ally in Capture the Flag because of our manpower even though the unclaimed kids can choose whichever team they want to. But when it comes to determining… Those gods that reside in Underworld usually stay quiet to prevent their children being orchestrated. Ethan for example is unclaimed but he’s pretty sure he’s son of Nemesis.” Luke waved his hand toward the boy on one of the upper bunks. The dark-haired boy waved back from there.

“The Goddess of Revenge. I can see that others wouldn’t look at him with favorably if they knew.” I nodded.

“Yes. But we here in Cabin Eleven hold together. Yeah, we’re here quite cramped but we get along and protect our own.” The almost eighteen year old boy nodded. “Why did you ask?”

“Because I wanted to know what were my chances of being claimed no matter who my godly parent is.” I told with a smile. “Though frankly I don’t care who it is.”

“You don’t?” A girl from other side of the cabin asked, incredulously. “I’ve been here for two years waiting for sign from my father and you don’t care who dumped you on your mortal parent?”

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“Unbelievable…” The girl muttered before turning away from me. I felt like chuckling at the reaction but I knew it could offend other unclaimed children. Some were desperate to know who their parent was. Especially if the conditions at their mortal home weren’t the best.

“Well, why should I? I have two perfectly good parents already.” This gained some looks that I ignored. Thankfully for me the conch horn sounded right then, signaling the dinner. Luke got up and clapped his hands.

“Alright cabin eleven, fall in.” And naturally as the new camper I was the last one. But it didn’t bother me as I got to look around in peace while we made our way to the Dining Pavilion.

* * *

The Hermes table was crowded but everyone still had a place to sit. Some of the tables were empty and some had only a few demigods sitting in them. From the pavilion was a straight view to the cabins which were – now that I was used to them being so mismatched – quite a beautiful sight. Especially cabin eight was beautiful now, shining at the neighboring ones too with its silvery light.

“To the gods!” Chiron toasted.

“To the gods!” We chorused and began piling food on our plates. Fresh fruits, bread, chicken, fish, cheese… All the honest to god good stuff. I could only hope that Luna was also eating at least moderately good food. Maybe I should Iris Message her tomorrow.

“Speak to your glass and it’ll fill itself.” Luke told me across the table. “It’ll be whatever you want as long as it’s nonalcoholic.”

I glanced at my glass. “Apple juice.” Because… hey, just because you can drink anything doesn’t mean you should immediately go on soft drink diet. Besides I could have Sprite and Fanta and whatever else whenever I wanted. I took a sip on the juice. It tasted freshly made. Delicious.

With a low voice Luke told me about the offering to the gods as we watched Athena table and Ares table getting up and walking to the fire. We followed them. Once it was my turn I dropped a peeled mandarin in the fire while mentally sending a thank you prayer to Hestia. She was after all the one keeping Luna and my home safe.

The smell that assaulted my senses them was heavenly. As if I’d stepped into Eden. Or to a Botanical Garden. I’d visited a few of those around Europe back in our home world. Luna had absolutely loved them.

I shook away my melancholic thoughts when I returned to the table. We ate amidst chatter. People were firing questions at me but mostly I just brushed them off and told them that I’d rather talk tomorrow after I’d rested properly. Interestingly enough no one brought up my sister.

* * *

After the meal Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor thus getting everyone’s attention. Mr. D got up with an expression that he’d rather be anywhere else than here. Which was probably true.

“Well, hello…” He began. “I don’t have anything to say to you, brats, but our activities director Chiron has announced that the next Capture the Flag is within a week. Wednesday he says. And Cabin eleven holds the laurels right now…”

Apparently the Hermes cabin had been the leaders of one team in the last game, I mused while the campers around me cheered.

“Yeah, yeah… congrats and all that stuff.” The god of wine grumbled. “That aside, I have to tell you that we also have a new camper today. Clark Gibson.”

My name was said wrong but I didn’t care as the god didn’t bother with anyone’s. Or so was the impression.

“Right, Clay Gavin.” Dionysus corrected. And naturally Chiron had been whispering to him. Only once so the rest of the campers would know the right name from the start. “And now is the time for your silly campfire. Off you trot.”

* * *

“Campfire, really?” I looked up at Luke as we made our way to the amphitheater. “I’m knackered.”

The older boy chucked and threw an arm on my shoulders. “Though luck, Clay. Those are mandatory. Besides they are fun.”

“If I fall asleep, you better carry me to the cabin.”

“Sure, sure…” Luke began awkwardly but another voice joined in.

“We can do it!” That was one of the Stolls. In the dark I didn’t see which one.

“We sure can!” The other one chorused. Yeah, I really was too tired to tell the difference between the two. But I nodded anyways. I didn’t have anything valuable in my pockets after all.

And true to my words as we ate s’mores and sang songs all the excitement and exhaustion finally caught up with me. The warmth of the campfire made me relaxed and in no time my head hit Luke’s shoulder and I fell into the land of Morpheus.

* * *

Next day I woke up early and surprisingly enough from my own bed. I had slept well. Very well considering that I was in completely new place. Nevertheless, I put on fresh clothes and made my way out of the cabin. The morning was crisp and only a couple of people from the cabins of Demeter and Apollo were already awake. I walked up to the Big House and looked at the schedule posted on the noticeboard. It had the schedules of all the cabins in it. Well, an old summer schedule really. The winter one was basically everyone together unless you were more advanced than others. And naturally some of the activities that were obligatory were at different times so people could attend them if they so wished.

But now I was looking at what was going to be my timetable for the coming winter. Today I’d have Ancient Greek. With luck I’d be able to convince them that I don’t need lessons. This was like back in the previous world: having instant understanding of the most useful language. After Greek was archery, then the lunch… Afterwards some sword fighting and an activity of own choice (art, Pegasus riding etc.) then dinner. That was the first day. Tomorrow would be wrestling and monster classes. Oh yippee…

* * *

We were going through some basics. Athena kids were teaching. I had several papers in front of me. On some was Ancient Greek writing. I remembered those alphabets by heart. Back home Luna had read aloud them over and over again when they first came up during math lesson (or was it algebra? Well, who cares?). Alfa, beeta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeeta, eeta, theeta, ioota… And so on and so forth.

“Kappa, lambda, myy, nyy…” I mumbled as I really had nothing better to do. I was practicing my writing after all. Next to me was some words and names written in the regular alphabet. Including the names of the gods. That is until someone snatched the paper from underneath my elbow. I looked up sharply. It was Annabeth. Who else was as nosy?

“Your dyslexia is worse than I thought.” She commented. “Or then you simply don’t know how to write these.”

“Would you kindly give them back?” I asked through my gritted teeth and I bet if this were a comic, there would’ve been a pulsing vein at my temple.

The girl regarded me for a moment. “No. I’m going to test you.”

“Test?” I repeated while trying to reign my temper. She really pushed my buttons. Without even trying and I’d known her for a day only.

“Spelling test. Malcom, would you keep record?” She called to her sibling. Blonde, grey-eyed boy (naturally, he was Athena’s kid) around my age or older nodded. “Great. I’m going to give you names to spell, Clay, and you are going to spell them for me letter by letter.”

“I _do_ know how _spelling_ works, Betty.” I replied cordially. She glared me for a moment.

“I told you not to call me ‘Betty’.” She snapped.

“And I decided not to listen. Betty.” Before she could get any angrier, I prompted her to give the first name. And I decided to let the whole camp know not to make assumption about me.

So she began giving me names from ancient Greek mythology. And at first it went quite well (in her opinion): Ares, Zeus, Hera, Artemis, Perseus, Herakles, Andromeda, Diomedes, Odysseus… Then there began to be differences.

“Apollo.”

“A-P-O-L-L-O-N.”

“Helen.”

“H-E-L-E-N-A.”

“Jason.”

“I-A-S-O-N.”

“Aphrodite.”

“A-F-R-O-D-I-T-E.” There was some snickers at that.

“Chiron.”

“K-H-E-I-R-O-N.”

“Charon.”

“K-H-A-R-O-N.”

And then some bigger differences.

“Athena.”

“A-T-H-E-N-E.”

“Troy.”

“T-R-O-I-J-A.”

“Hephaestus.”

“H-E-F-A-I-S-T-O-S.”

“That’s it!” Annabeth slammed her hand on my desk. “You are failing on purpose to annoy me.”

“No, I’m not.” I replied blankly. “I’m not failing on purpose. Actually, I’m not failing at all.”

“Liar.” She hissed. “These are easy. Everyone else gets them. You are simply an idiot.”

“No.” I glared at her. “I’m simply not spelling them in English like you assumed, Birdbrain Betty.”

She gave me completely flabbergasted look. Apparently she wasn’t used in someone opposing her directly. Other than Clarisse that is.

“Did you just-…?” She was at loss of words.

“Insult you? As a matter of fact… yes, I did.”

“What did you mean by not using English?” Malcom decided to intervene before either of us decided to gut the other.

“It means exactly what it means. I spelled them in a way of other language than English.” I snarked. The boy raised his hands in surrender.

“Hey, chill… I’m just curious. Could you tell us what language you used? And possibly why too…”

“I could.”

Silence followed a while. Then Malcom caught on.

“Would you also do so?”

“Fine…” I sighed and leaned back in my chair. “I used Finnish.”

“Finnish?”

“Yes, Finnish. You know… native language of the country of Finland. Which is situated in Northern Europe between Sweden and Russia. You know… The home country of Santa Claus?”

“I thought Santa was Swedish.” The boy stated.

“But Saint Nicholas is Russian!” Some kid shouted from the back of the class room.

“The lore is mixed up! Coca-Cola Company gave him the current appearance but Santa still lives in Finland.” I sighed.

“But why?” Annabeth was back in the game. Unfortunately.

“Because my roots are Finnish. I was born and mostly raised in Finland. Thus Finnish is my first language. English is secondary one though I’m fairly proficient in it too.” In my mind proficient equaled fluent.

“But you’re a demigod?” Annabeth spluttered.

“So?”

“We are American.”

“Truly?” I gave her a look. “I have a dual nationality but I don’t identify myself as American. You silly English-speakers think so highly of yourselves. You think you have the right to meddle all around the world and what good has it done in the end? The history is blood-stained because of that interference.”

“But you have an English name!”

“So has many other people around the world though they don’t necessary even speak English.”

“…” The blonde girl was obviously struggling to find next argument to prove her point.

“I understand Ancient Greek just fine. Why, just last week I read Homeros’ Ilias… But I’m quite proficient in German, Swedish and Japanese.” I shrugged before settling on glaring at the paper Annabeth had snatched from me. “Moreover I don’t appreciate you taking my stuff despite you playing a teacher here.”

The girl yelped when the paper caught fire. How I did it? I used my imagination. You know how you can set things on fire with sunlight and magnifying glass? Yeah, that was the theory. How I did it indoors with only my glare? Well, I was son of the sun god, right? (Sort of…) And humans do have lenses in their eyes – build in magnifying glasses really. So I used what I had. And the paper turned into ash in a matter of seconds.

“But no worries, Birdbrain Betty. I won’t come on these lessons again.” I gathered my stuff and simply walked out of the door into the chilly October air, with everyone staring after me.

* * *

“Hey, new kid!”

It was a girl’s voice. Quite rough one at that. I bit my lip not that let out a sigh and turned slowly around. I knew this would come sooner or later but I’d hoped it’d be much later.

“Yes?” I asked politely. I bet my smile was nervous. After all this was the counselor of cabin five, Clarisse La Rue. The girl narrowed her eyes at me. I fought down the urge to step back.

“I heard you walked out of Wise Girl’s lesson.”

“I did.” I nodded slowly, not averting my eyes from her. To my surprise, she smirked.

“I think I like you, runt.”

I blinked. That was unexpected. “Okay…”

“I was thinking of giving you a swirly as the tradition states…” I high doubted tradition actually stated it but kept my mouth shut. “…but I think I’ll rather give you a chance to prove yourself at Capture the Flag. You’ll be at our team.”

Well, one problem is solved now.

“Am I right in guessing that Athena cabin is leading the other team?”

“Yeah. And we are so going pummel them to ground.”

“As long as I don’t need to listen to orders from Birdbrain, I’m fine with it.” I shrugged.

“Great. Tomorrow is the first strategy meeting. You better be there.” Clarisse told me with a harsh glare that basically said ‘or else’.

“Alright. I’ll be there. When and where it’ll be then?”

“Dining pavilion, right after last classes.”

“’Kay.” We both made a move to head to Archery lessons and ended up walking together. “By the way… The red splatters are wrong shade of red… If they are meant to imitate blood that is…”

Clarisse whipped her head to look at me quizzically. “What?”

“The coloring of your cabin. The red color is too orange-ish and cold. Blood-red is darker and warmer, almost rusty brown.” I shrugged. “My sister paints a lot so I’ve heard my share of color-theory.”

“…I thought you sister died.” The daughter of war god frowned (and was quite tactless to be honest). “It’s like a public secret around here.”

I smirked. “Don’t tell anyone but that’s not true.”

“Huh?”

“My sister is very much alive, currently attending Yancy Academy with the help of the funds we stole from your father…” At that Clarisse let out a surprised gasp which could decide whether be impressed or angry. “People think she is dead only because Kheiron interpreted my words as such. He asked me where she was when I mentioned her telling me to come here. I answered ‘She didn’t…’ He assumed I meant she didn’t make it.”

“That’s…” The girl grinned. “Fucking brilliant.”

“Ain’t it so?” I grinned back. “But seriously don’t tell anyone, ‘kay?”

“You can count on me, runt.”

“Hey, I’m taller than you.”

“How did you steal money from my father again?”

“You see…” And I proceeded in telling the tale. It was weird how one simply bonded with people. I certainly hadn’t expected to make an acquaintance with Clarisse.

* * *

I had my bow drawn and I was taking an aim at the target board at a fair distance. Fair distance being twenty meters. It was alright I supposed. Some targets were closer and some further, depending on the skill level. Some Apollo kids were using the furthest targets while there still was some campers on the closest ones too. I’d gone straight to the twenty meter targets despite Chiron telling me to start with easier ones. Bah, I thought. I knew my limits. I could assess what I was able to do and what needed improvement.

Chiron was making his way towards me right when I let go of my arrow. It whizzed through the air and embed itself in the target, on the right edge of the bull’s eye. I purposely let it ‘miss’. I didn’t want too much attention after all.

I drew next arrow from my quiver and was going through the traditional eight steps of Kyuudo when the centaur stopped by me.

“Clay, I told you to use the closer targets, didn’t I?” The archery instructor told me gently but firmly.

“I suppose you did…” I replied nonchalantly as I took aim again and let the arrow hit a bit above the bull’s eye. “But I knew they were too close for me. If it were mounted archery, they’d be just fine but seeing as I’ve not gotten acquainted with the equines of this place…”

“And I heard you also walked out of Ancient Greek lesson today.” The centaur continued. I gave him a sideways glance before letting go of my third arrow. This one hit the half-way point of bull’s eye and the left side of the target.

“They were turning it into English spelling test for me. And I know my Greek well enough already. I can – though – give you a written report of it if it means I don’t need to go on the lessons anymore.”

Chiron nodded slowly and turned his gaze on the target.

“Have you practiced long?” He asked me.

“Since I was eight.” After shrinking for the first time that is. “I had a mentor, Kuroto-san, who taught me. I learnt Yabusame so I’m used to keep moving while taking an aim.” I explained and reached for my fourth arrow. This time it hit the middle of the middle circle. What I said was only one half of the truth. In middle school I'd joined archery club and in high school participated in competitions... And won a couple championships as well. But as my body wasn't old enough for those experiences, I kept mum about it.

“I guess you got your bow from him too…”

“Yes…” I eyed the centaur warily. I could see he was trying to calculate who my godly parent was. He wasn’t going to bet on Apollo straight-away apparently. Well, good for me.

“You seem to have international connections then.”

“Yeah. Thanks to dad.” I smiled. At the horse-man’s questioning gaze, I added: “Mortal dad. But that’s hardly the point now, is it? He is only dad I need. The best one there is.”

He couldn’t help but smile at my words. I guess there weren’t many demigods who were in good terms with their parents… The one who’d been with a god/goddess and the one who hadn’t.

* * *

Sword lesson was horrible. I wasn’t awful, having sparred with Heiji at kendou (well, he hit me with bokken and I tried to block) but it could’ve gone better too. I was against some Demeter campers and did decently. I was just happy I didn’t get trashed by Luke or some other more experienced camper. Gods forbid it, if I’d been put against Ares or Athena campers…

That night on dinnertime I sacrificed food to Apollo and asked not to be claimed. I told in my prayer that I rather wanted to get to know people without them labelling me and thus making assumptions. I got the feeling he listened.

* * *

Next day went so and so… I hated wrestling. Clarisse took the opportunity to pummel me to the ground and not even my experience in Taekwondo helped me. My moves were apparently too sophisticated for her. The jerk. I did, however, get Travis Stoll down before taking on Connor. The duo was impressed by my skills and were probably planning already how to use them in their favor.

“Which side did the Hermes cabin choose?” I asked the brothers when we were heading for showers.

“The claimed ones were picked up by Athena cabin.” Connor told me. “The unclaimed ones are still mingling about but many of them are going to be in the blue team.”

“I see. We are gonna be enemies then.” I grinned. This made the brothers stop.

“You’re in red team?” Travis gaped. “How? They never take newbies.”

“Apparently I managed to impress Clarisse.” I shrugged.

“Sweet…”

* * *

It was the time for the first strategy meeting. Or war council like one of Clarisse’s brothers called it. I didn’t remember his name yet. There wasn’t much of us yet. Five Areses, Three Apollos, eight unclaimed/minor god ones(including me), the Dionysus twins and one from Hephaestus (Beckendorf). There was no Demeter kids at the camp and the only Aphrodite camper here (Silena) was in the Athena team that also had Hermes and rest of the unclaimed/minor god ones. The recruiting had been very fast and in the end we were quite balanced teams number-wise. I realized that the amount of campers during the capture of the flag wouldn’t be nowhere near this… because so many had run to Kronos’ troops. I swallowed down the bitter taste that threatened to rise up my throat and sat down at the end of the table with Lee Fletcher and Beckendorf. The Ares cabin was assembled at the other end of the table and Clarisse was standing and assessing all of us. Then she gave us a feral grin.

“Alright, punks, time to out-plan the nerds and flatten them to the ground.” She told us. We cheered so loud they probably heard us at the other side of Long Island.

* * *

The next week was spent on lessons, planning, out-planning, changing plans when we discovered Birdbrain spying on us, and returning to the old plans. Ha, I bet they won’t expect us to use the plans they spied on. With a few tweaks of course… But the days flew by and then it was finally the time for the grand game.

Beckendorf was guarding the flag. Castor and Pollux were guarding him. As it was winter, plant didn’t grow and even if the twins had managed to get some vines to stop intruders… Well, those plants would be weak from cold. The flag itself was hung between two trees. It was just so high that you either needed to jump of climb on other person’s shoulders to get it but otherwise it was relatively easy to yank free. It was skirting the rules really… but ensured that no one could just sneak-‘n’-dash. The Ares cabin was in two groups with some unclaimed with them (groups were 3+2 and 2+3). They’d scout the flanks and take out anyone coming our territory. The Apollo’s (Lee, Michael and Kayla) were lifted high in the trees midway to the border and were each facing different direction. I in the other hand had two from cabin eleven with me. Lou Ellen, daughter of Hecate, and Samuel Lucas who was unclaimed. We were to be the spies or attack group to get the flag that was most likely a top of the Zeus Fist. Or the pile of rock poop as we privately knew it as. I was in because of my aim, Lou Ellen because of her prowess in spells and Samuel because he was damn good runner. I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned out to be Hermes’ child.

The horn was blown into and the game began. I warned everyone watch out for Annabeth and her invisibility cap. It was an old trick that everyone was tired of. The opposing team always had to be on a lookout for it whether it was used or not. It was almost cheating in our opinion. The three groups were on the move. We did our best to hide our presence in the snow. The three of us hand white coats and loose pants made out of old bed sheets. Snow suits. Simple but effective. We managed to avoid two scouting pairs by going flat against the snow that had come early this year. They saw nothing. And apparently the Blue Team was sending out pairs to cover as much forest as possible.

But we went on. In the distance we heard the Ares kids taking on the enemy. I smiled. With five against pairs like this the opponent had no chances.

“They’re trying to sneak past us.” Lou Ellen stated. “Pairs are less noticeable…”

“Yeah… but weaker.” I stated. “They have four Athenas, Silena, six Hermes kids and seven others from cabin eleven… Most likely they have one Athena by the flag, Birdbrain sneaking and third one directing the troops… The rest are divided in pairs to look for the flag or in trios to keep defense. I guess two defense groups are max… Or then they are pulling some nasty surprise.”

“At least we have Beckendorf’s traps on our side.” Samuel sighed.

“Yeah…” We wandered towards the rock formation before ducking underneath some leafless bush between two snowbanks.

“Alright… What’s the plan?” Samuel asked and I realized that they were both looking at me. The Zeus’ Fist was right in front of us.

“Why are you asking me?”

“Because you are smart. Honestly, if you had grey eyes and bit lighter hair color, I’d beg you for Athena kid.” Lou Ellen told me. I stared at her blankly.

“I’m eternally grateful that I’m not. I wouldn’t stand a minute at that bird nest.” I told her seriously and we had to muffle our laughter into the snow so we wouldn’t be spotted. When we gathered our bearings, I glanced at the Blue Flag atop of the rock. I had a plan. Sort of.

“We go from the side. They are guarding the front, left and behind currently. Lou, can you put any of the guards asleep?”

“One or two…” The girl frowned at the two cabin eleven kids with Malcom. “I’m not that good with the sleep spell yet. I rather not give any permanent damage.”

I turned to look at the guards. The female guard was the one who’d been unpleasant to me when I’d arrived and ever since looked down at me with scorn. The boy… I didn’t recognize him but I could see he was Hermes’.

“Samuel, you take down Malcom, be quick with it. Lou, you get the girl. I’ll handle what’s-his-face…Whoever is done first, climbs to grab the flag.” The other two nodded. “When we are done, we take the flag and get going as fast as possible while keeping it down. Unless they manage to alert their team mates. Then we run and fast. I trust our archers to take down any pursuers. Samuel, you have the flag. You run. Damn fast. Lou and I will take down people approaching us. Got it?” Nods again. “Great.”

We moved to the right and struck. Lou’s spell took down the female guard immediately and she climbed on the rock to the blue flag. Samuel attacked Malcom while I swiftly hit the side of the neck of the last guard. Malcom managed to shout an alarm before he was defeated.

“Let’s go!” I yelled as I could already hear Athena cabin ordering people to fall back to get the flag back. Lou threw the flag to Samuel to shot forward like a bullet. He dodged trees and campers that Lou and I made stumble in the snow and slow down effectively. We were heading towards the border when I noticed something from the corner of my eye. Our red flag was moving too.

“Annabeth…”I growled. I had a good guess that she’d gotten Luke to hoist her up while our guards had been occupied with rest of their team. With a quick count I realized it was entirely possible. At least if they had only one defense trio. Or something. My brain was too jumbled up at the moment. I could see the tree where our archers were.

“Lou, guard Samuel.” I told the witch girl next to me.

“What are you…” Her voice faltered as she spotted out flag swerving to the side while approaching the border at distance.

“I’ll take care of that one.” Then I took a deep breath and shouted one of our code words. “OBJECTION!”

It basically meant fire at will, we got their flag but need time, they got our flag, do anything to hinder enemy backup.

“TAKE THAT!” Was answered all around the woods as our scouting quintets emerged, chasing after the sneaky blue-pairs. I took off to the direction of our flag. Thankfully I was faster runner that Annabeth and had decided to forgo the armor in favor of speed.

I crossed the creek and ran right at the invisible girl, tackling her to the ground.

“Aah!” She shouted, her Yankees cap flying out of her head and the flag slipping out of her hands. I sat on her stomach and took the flag to myself.

“Bad luck, Betty. Red Flag is quite well seen in white background.” I grinned down at her and then took a hold on her wrist with my free hand. She’d tried to stab me with her dagger. Luke was approaching us in order to help Annabeth but in his hurry managed to hit one of our traps. Greek fire exploded on his left, forcing him to hit the deck.

The conch horn was blown when the blue flag turned grey with caduceus. At the same time that same symbol appeared above Samuel’s head: he was claimed.

“We won. How’s that?”

She just glared at me before trying to shove me away. I just laughed. I hadn’t had anything this fun in ages.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original A/N from FFN:  
> Next chapter will have Luna in it. And December is approaching. That much I can promise. Timelinewise Luke's quest has been approx. six months ago by the way.  
> I just reread the Lightning Thief... Apparently Annabeth got her cap on her twelfth birthday... Now she is ten or something... Damn, I need to draw up a timeline for myself...  
> Suggestions concerning this fic are welcome. I'll definitely need something to fill the days as long as nothing too drastic happens with the vague plotline I have in my head...  
> ()  
> Vocabulary stuff:  
> Yumi = Japanese style bow


	7. In which I hear how my sister is doing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clay messages Luna, time goes onward, Luna does some questionable decisions and inner nerds surface.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the bottom you'll have picture of Thalassa's outfit.

**Chapter 7: In which I hear how my sister is doing**

Contacting Luna for the first time since arriving to Camp Half-Blood took longer than I thought it would. Actually I did so on the following day of the successful game of Capture the Flag. I was sitting at the base of Thalia’s tree and watching the sunlight stream through the needles. It was still warm despite the snow. It was nice.

I dug my pocket for a prism that I’d bought before leaving for a camp. I didn’t fancy Iris Messaging somewhere public where anyone could eavesdrop. Hermes cabin had almost all the time someone in there so it was obviously out. In any case, I didn’t want to take any risks of exposure. It was already bad enough that in the end the Goddess of Rainbows herself was able to eavesdrop. Not necessarily interested in doing so but the possibility was still there.

I placed the little prism on the snow and turned it in the sunlight until it casted a spectra of colors in front of me. Then I dug out a golden drachma (one of those stolen from Ares) and tossed it into the rainbow.

“Oh goddess, accept my offering.” The drachma disappeared so I took it as a sign that I was on the lines now. “Luna Cykes, Yancy Academy.”

The image changed. I could see Luna sitting on a bed on her dorm room and reading a book. There was another bed in the room too but it was made and there was no personal items near it. She had the room all for herself. The walls were decorated with posters of anime characters that I didn’t recognize and all sorts of Harry Potter stuff was on the shelves between books and across the desk. Papers were everywhere. It was hard to believe that she’d lived in the room only two weeks. Or not. I could actually imagine her working in there and having her own special order for everything in there. I could only smile at the sight.

“Hei, sisko.” I greeted her. It was ages since I’d last spoken in Finnish. Luna looked up from her book and grinned widely at me.

“Hei, veli.” She greeted back. “About the time you called.”

“Yeah… Were you worried?”

She shrugged and closed her book, leaving her finger in the middle to mark where she left off. “Dunno. I knew you’d be just fine but… You can never be too worried, right?” She smiled. “How’s the camp life?”

“It’s great. I’m at Hermes cabin right now.”

“Managed to avoid getting claimed?”

I nodded. “I did… Afterwards I got the impression that Mr. Sunshine will claim me at the end of the summer the latest so I got the year to establish myself. But I also gotta explain myself.”

She hummed thoughtfully. “I suppose he deserves it… With Silas dead and all.”

“Yeah… But how about you? How have you settled in Yancy?”

“Oh… no nono…” Luna glared at me. “ _You_ tell first. Finish what you started and all, yeah?”

I could tell she didn’t want to dive into her own life. At least not yet. So I took a deep breath and began telling since the beginning. I told her about the boars and defeating them. I told about the game of pinochle. Then the tour about the camp and annoying Annabeth. Luna grinned at that.

“I can’t wait to knock her down a peg or two.” She told me. I smirked back and continued my tale. I told about Hermes cabin and dinnertime. About activities and how I managed to avoid Clarisse’s wrath. Then I told about the Capture the Flag which we won.

“How many cabins are they guessing you to?” Luna asked then.

“Hmm… Ares, Apollon, Athene, Afrodite, Hermes or some minor god.” I counted with my fingers. “They are pretty much neck to neck except that Athene is losing popularity with how I’m all the time arguing with Annabeth. This causes the scales tipping towards Ares though… But my archery skills are balancing it out. And of course there’s those who only see my natural charm and good looks.” I made a mock bow, causing my sister to laugh.

“You are so full of yourself.”

“Aren’t all demigods? Inherited from our parents.” My smile faltered.

“Clay? Are you okay?” Luna asked me, concerned. “Are you… actually adjusting to being a demigod? To accepting that there’s more family for you than just I?”

I shrugged. “I suppose I have to.” I muttered. I really wanted to change topics now. “Speaking of being a demigod, I went to the Oracle.”

“You did? But people only go there when they have a quest.”

“Well, Oracle gives prophecies if it gives. I decided to take a shot if there was one for us.”

“One of the scale of the Great Prophecies…”

“Yeah… And there was one.” I told her what the prophecy said and watched her pale by each word I said. In the end she was like she’d just been to Underworld and back.

“That is bad, Clay… Really bad…” Luna uttered. I nodded solemnly.

“And the worst part is that we don’t know what it means until it comes to hit us in the face.”

My sister licked her lips nervously and traced the title of her book with her free hand. I could see she was mulling over the words of the prophecy. Trying to deduce what it meant.

“The Godless and the Archer are obviously us, with you and your skill with bow…”

“Yumi.” I corrected automatically.

“…and me with the Godless stones and not being a demigod. Making a stand… I can only guess that it’s with us spouting out opinions.” Luna chuckled mirthlessly.

“’Seek guidance of the forgotten ones of their land’…” I quoted the next verse of the prophecy. “’Our land’ is most likely Finland. I can’t come up with anything else. Even the Swedish version of our national anthem begins with words _Vårt Land_...”

“Since it’s about ‘forgotten ones’ and we consider the world we are living in…”

“…It’s probably the old Finnish pagan gods that it’s about.”

“Exactly. Next verse probably warns the gods about interfering with our lives negatively.” Luna brushed her blonde locks back with a finger comb. “Especially when it’s followed by us being called the saviors of Moon and Sun…”

“No freaking idea how when or why would that happen…” I couldn’t help but mutter. Then the image flickered away and a female voice told me to insert a new coin for the next five minutes. So I tossed in a second drachma.

“…and somehow we must be aware of the situation because the consequences may be dire.” Luna had continued talking without noticing the connection having cut off for a moment.

“How about champions of Dusk and Dawn?” I decided to ask her.

“Hmm…” My sister frowned and settled her book on her bed before getting up. She reached for a notebook a top of a shelf above her head and plopped down atop of the covers then. I could see the notebook had been originally quite thin but had twice the thickness now after multiple papers had been stuffed between it. “The Goddess of the Dawn should be Eos, the sister of Helios and Selene. According to records she hasn’t faded… And the God of Dusk is her husband Astraeus. I’ve got nothing on him in regards this world though… Original mythology is another thing.”

“Neither of us being a pawn is quite obvious though, isn’t it? We make our own decisions and won’t be manipulated by others.”

“Definitely not. I don’t believe in pre-determined fate. I think everyone has a say in their own lives. Or at least they should have.”

“After all Janus exists.”

“Yeah… The next verse is a bit obscure but I think it’s related to the previous one.”

“But the end closing is a bit ominous then. Especially with the separation.” I cringed at the thought. What could it be that would separate anything? Was it me and Luna from the rest of the world or from each other?

“And especially when this warns that it would take time for the closure to come.” Luna added, not looking up from her notes that she’d started writing on another notebook. One that I hadn’t even noticed her to get. “…The rest of this prophecy is a mess. I can’t really draw any definite conclusion.” She scratched her temple with the lime green pencil she’d used on the notes.

“I suppose we just have to wait…” I sighed. “D’you think this will be fulfilled gradually?”

“Most likely. This isn't a quest prophecy after all.” Luna wrote up last two sentences on the second notebook (this one emerald green) and tossed it on the side then. “I’m guessing that you want to hear about my schooldays now.”

“Oh yes.” I grinned, happy to talk about something less serious than prophecies.

“Fine.” She huffed and began telling. She told how most of the kids in her class were idiots and lessons were boring. Now she just winged the homework and decided not to study for the exams at all. She mentioned the scrawny kid Grover Underwood on the fifth grade and how the kid (satyr) sometimes flocked to her. She guessed it was because the goat boy could smell me in her.

Eventually she ran out of things to talk about and bid me goodnight. I promised to call her again next week.

* * *

“Whacha doin’?”

“I’m writing.”

“Whacha writin’?”

“A poem. In Finnish.”

“Can I hear?”

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“Just b’cuz.”

“That’s such an annoying way to say ‘because’.”

“I know. Now sod off, Clay.”

“Love you too, Luna.”

* * *

Snow was a thick blanket all around the camp. We had had several snowball fights lately. Usually we had three or four teams with our own fortresses. Each time the teams were a bit different, like searching for the optimal combination. It was fun though. Apollo kids (and I) had a brilliant aim while Ares brats threw the biggest and hardest snowballs. It was decreed though that no stones inside the balls or ice were allowed. Chiron had announced that those who broke the rule would get an appropriate punishment. Something worse than losing dessert privileges.

Today had been the super ganging up. Everyone versus Ares and Athena cabins. We won naturally. They didn’t stand a chance and I had the immense pleasure of showing snow down Annabeth’s jacket. And push Clarisse face first into the snow. The latter took it with a good humor, the former didn’t.

I shook snow from my hair as I trekked up the Half-Blood Hill. I slumped down and leaned my back against the great pine.

“Hello, Thaleia. Great to speak to you again. This day has been fun. We had no lessons. All day we just ran around and did whatever felt like doing. I helped the Stolls and the Hefaistos campers to construct and design a snowball catapult. It isn’t done yet but in the next battle we should have them finished.” I sighed contentedly. “Kheiron is organizing a field trip to Olympus. It’ll be on the winter solstice. I’m going to sign up now so next year I can stay here. There is only a certain amount of places for us. Probably so the horse-man can control our group better. But I can’t wait to see the palace and the rest of the mountain. It’ll be so great. And one day you’ll also get to visit the place. In three years actually.”

There wasn’t really anything else to tell her right now. I didn’t even know if she could hear me. But it felt good to just talk about things. Things that I couldn’t tell anyone else…

“Yo, Clay.” Luna’s voice shook me back to the reality. She was Iris messaging me from her dorm room once again.

“Heya, Luna.” I replied with amusement. “You look like you have some good news for me.”

The girl grinned brightly. “You betcha! I found a new Godless Stone.”

I blinked in surprise. “Really? Where was it?”

“It was amongst the props for school plays. It was attached to this plastic crown for Fairy Queen Titania. I just stumbled over it accidentally when going through what we’d need for Christmas play.” Luna explained and sighed in relief then. “Thank heavens that I don’t need to go on stage. I managed to slip into the decoration group.”

“What stone was it?”

“Persephone’s Pathway. It’s basically just a teleportation stone. But now I can move wherever I wish to. Even home in the middle of school year.”

“Not to mention that Christmas hols are a-coming.” I added.

“True. I get to go home anyways. I can continue with my special project there.” The expression on my sister’s face was a curious one. It was full of excitement, wariness and… tiredness. Like she’d been working something that really excited her but at the same time was a danger of it blowing up on her face.

“Luna. Have you been sleeping properly?”

“Uh…huh?” She’d zoned off for a moment. “Of course I have!”

“Liar.”

“Am not!”

“Uh-huh.”

“Nuh-uh.”

“What are you working with if it’s so important?” I asked then, trying to catch her off guard. Didn’t work…

“Oh, I’m _so_ not going to tell you.” Luna sounded annoying like her physical age. I cringed at it but smiled at her then.

“Why not? Is it a surprise? For me?”

“…Kinda? I’m working on it.” Behind her I could see all sorts of diagrams and tons of text strewn about the walls. From the looks of it, she was probably trying to create a magical item with the help of Hecate’s Eye.

“Okay then. I can’t wait to see it done. Good luck sis.”

“Thanks.” Luna slashed her hand through the rainbow mist and disconnected the call.

* * *

“You what?” I asked with barely calm voice. I couldn’t believe what my sister was saying.  Not at all. Luna had… She’d seriously been in danger. On two accounts at that! During a single week!

“I found an entrance to Daidalos’ Labyrinth and went to explore. Pallas Athene’s Clear Thought helped me to navigate there alongside my clearsightedness.” Luna blurted out. “The entrance was at the same prop room at the school basement where I found Persephone’s Pathway.”

“And the other thing?”

“The one where I bumped into Ares while stealing wallets at Times Square?”

“Yes. That one.” I glared at the girl on the other side of the call. I felt like throttling her. So annoying and careless she was. If she were a demigod her fatal flaw would probably be impulsiveness. “What the hell were you doing there? Didn’t we decide not to steal anything while we are separated? It’s too dangerous to go alone.”

“I know!” Luna squeaked in alarm. “I know but we need the money. I don’t even know when I’ll see you next time. And with the teleportation stone I can sneak out so easily.”

I sighed. I simply couldn’t stay angry at her for extended amount of time. “What happened with Mr. Short-temper then? And how an earth are you still alive?”

“I…” My sister looked away, scratched the back of her head, looked back at me and then sighed in defeat. “Fine…”

And she proceeded in telling what had happened. She had been at Times Square a bit after school hours, weaving in the crowd and letting Thalassa’s abilities take over. What I understood she and Kage were now mere notions at the back of Luna’s mind. They weren’t exactly needed in this world so they were slowly fading. Other thing that I noticed from Luna’s explanation that she had been moving faster than normal human/mortal. Maybe this had something to do with her ‘project’ she didn’t want to talk about…

“…I was just running and letting my instincts make sure I wouldn’t run into anything but I guess my concentration broke when one of my earlier victims – from like, ten minutes ago – screamed for thief.”

“You made the mistake of looking back.” I guessed. Luna visibly deflated at that.

“Yeah. And of course I happened to bump into the God of War right then.”

“What happened next?”

“I was sent sprawling on the pavement with half a dozen wallets around me. At least I had enough sense back then to cloak myself in the Mist so none of the mortals would spot me.”

“But that alerted Ares.”

“Yes, it did. I hadn’t even managed to gather my bearings when he had yanked me up and dragged away. I was forced to leave all those wallets right there!” Luna gestured wildly in dismay.

“And that’s what you are worried about?” And incredulous note found its way to my voice when I heard her apparent lack of reasonable priorities. She gave me a blank stare.

“Of course not. That was for the sake of humor. A comic relief.”

“Luna, not now. What happened next? Did he hurt you?”

“Nah… Maybe roughed me up a bit when dragging me away but I didn’t exactly resist. I was a bit dazed from my fall after bumping into him. I mean seriously, it was almost like running into a brick wall.”

I decided to give up on getting a straight answer without any unnecessary comments.

“Continue.”

“When we were out of sight he practically began interrogating me. I guess he connected me to you because of my Mist trick even though it was the Hecate’s Eye that did the work…” The girl took a deep breath before continuing. “He somehow managed to aggravate me. I dunno why because then he wouldn’t get proper answers out of me but I guess he just wanted to see my reaction. But anyways I snapped.”

“Snapped how?”

“I summoned Lady Sky from my ring and slashed at his head. He just wrenched the sword out of my hands and I couldn’t even banish it back to the ring.”

“And?”

“I tried to get it back… only to end up pinned against the wall by his hand that wasn’t holding Lady Sky. He took his moment to examine my sword and didn’t really pay attention on me and my struggles for freedom.” Cue a dramatic sigh. “But then he just dropped me and told I’d need sword lessons if I thought to survive in this world.”

It looked like the tale was finished now. At least she was looking at me expectantly, like waiting for a comment.

“Luna. What happened then?”

She sighed again. “Well, he was more amused than anything else because of my actions. I guess you are the one he is really angry at – before Percy steps into the picture that is. But in the end he took pity on me or something and told me to be at Central Park on Saturday (This happened on Thursday). When I went he flat-out told me he’d teach me fight with a sword. I’m telling you, it was torture.”

“I can believe that. I can believe all that except for the part he decided to teach you.” I told Luna. But she simply shrugged and grinned ‘what-can-I-do’ manner. Well, I’d see the results when we’d meet face to face properly. Whenever that’d be.

* * *

“Aah… I’m banned from playing Capture the Flag.”

I was slumped against the great pine, with my nose buried in my scarf and my hand deep in the pockets of my winter coat. I inhaled the woolly smell before elaborating the statement to Thaleia.

“It’s the next three months only though. I cheated in the game. You might ask how one can cheat at Capture the Flag since magical items are involved too… Well, cheating isn’t the word I’d use either. Lil’ Betty is the one who coined it. We had teams… sort of… lead by Hermes and Apollo cabins. I was this time with cabin eleven even though Athena kids were with them too.

“Anyways I did a little trick. I was one of the people guarding our flag but with the help of some photokinesis (handy skill I seem to have inherited) I managed to create a mirage, or an illusion if you will, of our flag. Then I put it inside my white backpack and went to snatch the other flag too. I created a similar illusion at the other side before going back to the creek and to Kheiron. He noticed me quickly enough but didn’t know I had the flags. When he asked me what I was doing I told him I was taking a breather. The game had been going on for half an hour already. It continued for a quarter and then I dispelled the mirages. The whole lot of them was thrown into a chaos. It was amazing to watch.

“Eventually both of the teams stomped to Kheiron who then asked me if I’d done anything. That’s when I showed both of the flags. And damn, Betty has a shrill voice. Some campers found it hilarious though. Apparently this hasn’t happened ever before. And now there is one more point for me being Hermes’ kid or some other mischievous god’s. And yeah I got this stupid punishment too. Lost desert privileges too but thankfully I didn’t need to give up my spot for the trip to Olympus.”

I slowly got up from my spot. I glanced at the space in the trunk against which I had leaned. With time it would probably have an oval intend.

“See ya again, Thaleia… And happy first Advent.”

* * *

On the second week of December I read something interesting from a newspaper. Apparently a thief named Thalassa had been striking into museums and galleries. Some gemstones were stolen but always returned on the next day. She even sent a notice beforehand. I noted with amusement that Magic Kaito wasn’t published in this world. It was a pity really. No one except me would get the reference. Some people did compare her to Mask de Masque from Ace Attorney games (AJ:AA wasn’t published yet though!) or Kaitou Saint Tail or Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne… But no Kaitou Kid… I could only sigh.

I looked at my sister’s description on the paper. A woman in her early twenties, long dark brown curly hair, a mask covering upper part of her face. The mask looked like the night sky.  She was wearing a short cloak with a hood which was dark blue outside with constellations painted on it and light golden on the inside. She also had longish dress (I noted from the blurry surveillance camera picture that it resembled quite a lot of a chiton) of which light purple color gradually darkened from top to bottom. The same coloring happened with the sleeves as well. On her feet she had simple heelless black boots.

All in all it was a functioning combination. I had no doubt she was using the Godless Stones in order to find more. From the list of her targets only one name struck any familiarity to me though. Cloaked Shadow. It was one to make you invisible and blend into shadows. Three guesses who it represented.

I could also bet that Luna (or Thalassa) was using the Labyrinth in order to get into some of those places. Quite handy actually in bypassing the security systems. Not that she didn’t have the skill sneaking in anyways.

With a chuckle I folded the newspaper and gave it to Luke who arched an inquisitive eyebrow.

“Something amusing in there?” The son of Hermes asked.

“Nothing special, Atmey.” I replied with a smile.

“Atmey?”

“A game character. Detective Luke Atmey. He is a bastard though…” I shrugged.

“What game is it?” Travis asked, leaning across the table. He and Connor were both gamers more or less. At least when they had a chance since we didn’t really have any electronic entertainment at the camp. Which was stupid really.

“Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. There’re three games this far. The first one, then Justice for All, and finally Trials&Tribulations. I’ve played them all.” I explained. After the prompting of the two brothers and couple of other gamers at the camp (one boy from Athena cabin and two from Apollo), I began telling about the games and the characters with punny names in them. Next to me Luke was reading the newspaper and listening to us with amusement. And on that moment I realized that one of the plans Luna and I laid out wasn’t necessary to happen. But it was alright really. I was settling in here.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Explanations picked from FFN A/N:  
> 1\. Hei sisko/Hei veli: Finnish for Hey sister/Hey brother. My brother and I don't actually call each other like that but I thought it a cute inclusion considering Luna and Clay haven't seen each other in a while or heard their mother tongue.  
> 2\. When Luna and Clay speak about gods and other Greek stuff, they use Finnish names for them. Just because I can. And because they are also making it clear to others that they are different.  
> 3\. Lamiroir: game character from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. Also known as Thalassa Gramaye  
> 4\. Mask de Masque, Kaitou Jeanne and Sinbad, Kaitou Kid, Kaitou Saint Tail... Phantom thieves the bunch of them. From Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, Magic Kaito and Kaitou Saint Tail respectively.  
> 5\. Rachel could navigate in the Labyrinth because she was clearsighted, right? Not because she was the future oracle... Right?  
> Other translation notes:  
> 6\. Vårt Land: as Finland has two official languages, Finnish and Swedish, our national anthem has to sets of lyrics as well. Well, actually the original version was Swedish because our national poet J.L.Runeberg was Finnish-Swede and wrote the poem "Vårt Land" (Our Land) in Swedish which was later translated into Finnish "Maamme" and turned into an anthem. Fun fact, the same melody that's used in Finland is also in Estonia's national anthem.


	8. In which we go to Olympus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Field trip time! And Clay meets Hestia who explains and reassures the boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More minor Ocs sprinkled about. I hope I did some justice to Mirco's accent...

**Chapter 8: In which we go to Olympus**

I woke up to poking. Something was poking me. Or someone. I didn’t really know. But when I opened my eyes, there was no one near me. The poking had stopped though. I shook my head and glanced at the other occupants of cabin eleven. They were all more or less asleep still. The clock on the wall said it was 5 am. I sighed. I really wanted to continue sleeping. What could one do now, I was already awake. The curse of being a sun child. Waking up in the mornings. Though it really wasn’t much different to home when I had to wake up early to school.

Grumbling to myself almost inaudibly, I finally got up and decided to take an early shower and enjoy the warm water without any rush. It wasn’t like the warm water could run out but long showers without someone rapping on the stall door, was luxury.

Bundled into winter clothes I headed towards the archery range but something else caught my attention. An eight-year old girl tending the fire. I hadn’t seen her before but I did know who she was. Hestia. Goddess of Home and Hearth.

I don’t know how long I stood there, just watching, but eventually she looked up at me. She smiled. I’m not a creep, but she was cute. Warm eyes and soft brown curls. She felt like… well, home.

“Why don’t you sit with me, Clay Gavin?” She gestured a patch of freshly fallen patch of snow next to her that hadn’t melted by the heat of flames.

“That’d be an honor, Lady Hestia.” I offered a short bow and made my way to her. I sat down and laid my bow on the ground other side of me, turning my gaze to the flames. A silence reigned between us but it didn’t feel uncomfortable. It was more like one of those times between Luna and I. She read books or did research while I did my stuff with the computer. Neither of us disturbing the other but enjoying the presence of them.

“You are causing ripples.” Hestia stated after a while.

“…I am aware.” I nodded slowly, wondering where this conversation was going.

“Apollo was startled when the prophecy was told to you.”

“I was startled too.”

“But what he has seen from the future after that… It gives hope. While the outcome may remain the same, the cost may not be as high.”

“…” I didn’t know what to say. After all it was the aim of my sister and I. To save as many as possible without affecting the outcome. “Has… Has he told anyone of the second prophecy?”

“No. With the tension on Olympus already so high, he doesn’t want to add any more pressure on it. And you are his son. No matter the way you came to be, he will protect you. Like he protects any other of his children.” The Goddess smiled at me. I gave a tentative smile back.

“And Luna?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Your sister… She is safe for now. She is mortal despite the stones she’s collecting. And she on her way to make good connections. She just needs to be careful of who sees her.” Hestia turned back towards the flames and poked them a bit. “You need to keep a low profile too. Especially on the upcoming days.”

“The Winter Solstice.”

“One of the topics under discussion are the thefts going on. And the fact the thief is using the name Thalassa.” Was that a hint of mischief in her eyes?

“I… I see.” It was interesting how she referred to Luna as collecting stones but Thalassa as stealing… something.

“But I hope you enjoy yourself too. It’s been awhile to see a demigod such as you. Balanced one.”

“Probably because I wasn’t originally one.” My fingers were plucking at the string of my bow.

“Probably.” Hestia nodded sagely. It was a funny image. Would’ve been funnier if it had been an actual eight-year-old. “But I’ll continue protecting your home nevertheless. What you and your sister will bring to this world… It surely will be interesting.”

“I’m sure. We are going to have fun.” Have fun stranded in here. I haven’t seen my sister in ages and won’t even know if something happens to her. I’m cut off from all that I knew. I don’t belong-…

“And Clay?” Hestia’s voice cut through my thoughts that had taken a dangerous pensive turn. I won’t be surprised if she’d been reading my mind and thus chosen that exact moment to interrupt.

“Yes?”

“You realize that you have family here? Like I said, Apollo considers you one of his own despite what happened with Silas. And I’m sure the campers will welcome you sister too when it’s the right time.”

Well, in the books they did welcome Rachel who became the next Oracle. Maybe Luna could be a test run.

“I…” I swallowed. “Thank you.”

“You are welcome, Clay. Enjoy your field trip.” And she was gone with a smell of smoke and home cooked meal. I glanced at her previous spot a noted a small covered bowl on a wooden tray with a spoon next to it. I picked the tray and placed it on my lap. And carefully I took the lid off the bowl. There was rice porridge. With a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar on top it and a little bit of butter melting and forming a golden yellow ‘eye’ in there. I smiled. It was almost Christmas. Back home we always ate rice porridge on Christmas Eve lunch while turkey, salmon, potatoes, rosolli and other Christmas dishes were for a dinner.

“Home…” I took the spoon and dug in. The first bite was indescribable. It was everything I remembered from home. Everything I missed. It was just like I remembered the Christmas porridge to be. As I continued eating I even found an almond in there. Finding an almost meant one could make a wish. Back home mother used to put many almonds in the porridge so Luna and I could get at least one. Well, we were kids and later on it became a habit. Because the almonds tasted so nice and it was exciting to see which spoonful would have it. Hmm… What to wish?

I ate the porridge in reverent silence and once I placed the bowl back on the tray, it and the rest of the utensils disappeared. I smiled freely for the first time for a while. “Thank you for the meal, Lady Hestia.”

* * *

We’d leave after lunch towards Olympus. Normally it was during dinner that we sacrificed to the gods but this time it was done during lunch. Probably because it was sort of common and uniting thing to do among the campers and some of them would be gone for the next two days.

“You aren’t coming then?” I asked Luke after sacrificing some salmon for Hades and wishing him patience to deal with his bothersome family.

“Nah, next year then. Someone has to watch after these guys.” The older camper gestured the kids at the tables. I barely stifled a chuckle.

“I can believe that. Surprisingly many are staying here though.”

“But you are going, right?”

“Yeah. I can’t wait to see it. If only based on curiosity.”

“Alright…” The boy nodded but I could see his thoughts were elsewhere. I could only hope it wasn’t anything sinister. The moment was gone as soon as it had appeared. “You look after Stolls then. Can’t have them causing trouble, eh?” I got a nudge in the ribs.

“Luke, you put way too much weight on my abilities when it comes to controlling them.” I tried to deflect whatever praise was coming next.

“No, you just work on the same wavelength with them. After pulling that prank on cabin five and hiding from them on the roof of cabin eight? I don’t know if you are a fool or suicidal.” Laughter rang along the table eleven. This time I couldn’t help but laugh along with them. “So, yeah, you pretty much earned their respect. Lately you’ve managed to make some nigh impossible feats here.”

I scrolled back my memories. Yeah. I had done much stuff that was borderline insane or impossible. Lying to Kheiron and not getting caught? Yep, and it was now a public secret between the demigod campers that my sister was actually alive and well. Sneaking to attic and getting a prophecy with the knowledge of the rest of the camp? No one but Apollo and Hestia knew about that to my knowledge. Avoiding a swirly? People were astonished but that had faded quickly. Cheating but yet not cheating at Capture the Flag? Annabeth was still harping about it. And now pranking the Ares campers and not found afterwards PLUS hiding half a day on the roof of Goddess of the Hunt’s cabin. Well, let’s just say I barely slept a week afterwards.

“I still think you are flattering me.” I smirked. “Besides, none of you have figured out yet who’s my godly parent.”

“The betting pool is on-going.” Samuel interjected. “But by your own admission we managed to weed out the goddesses. My own bet is on you being our sibling.”

“Nah. Can’t be.” Lou Ellen laughed lightly. “While he does have quick fingers and a mischievous streak, he is clearly Apollo’s. Oh, c’mon, Clay! I’ve _seen_ the way you eye that grand piano at the Big House. Besides his skills with a bow rival those of cabin seven.”

The conversation flowed from there, each tossing their guesses. It was broken only when Mirco Kirkland from Ares table opened the days paper got to the part where they handled smaller news.

“Ya know…” He drawled with Southern Accent. “Tha thief is strikin’ tonight.”

“What do you mean?” Clarisse frowned and stopped shoveling bacon to her mouth.

“That thief Thalassa. She’s gonna do tha gig soon. Tha winds at Time Square ‘ave been worse than usual.” Mirco explained. “Lately every time she ‘as a ‘eist, tha winds are picking up there and wallets go missing. They call it the Snatcher Gale now. It’s been going on this last month a lot.”

“You looked up the weather reports then?” Malcolm leaned across the aisle between the two tables. He and Mirco got along surprisingly well considering their parents.

“Yeah… Tha pattern is tha same but no one’s linked them. Media keeps quiet about tha ‘eists b’forehand.”

I listened with mild interest. So Luna had something planned for tonight then. What could the target be? Something poked me again. Poked me in my head. I brushed it away. It was weird and annoying little thing. Something to ignore really. Or at least that’s what I thought.

* * *

There was fifteen of us who left for the trip. Argus was driving the van for us to the closest subway station and Chiron was in his wheelchair. It was a relatively interesting sight to be honest. On the way Kayla (daughter of Apollo) managed to challenge Candice – the girl who took offence on my flippant attitude towards being determined on my first day at camp and who Lou Ellen took down in the first Capture the Flag game – to sing Britney Spears’ Toxic. Candice did sing that song and she wasn’t awful per say… It was just that no one liked the song. And then began challenging each other. Each and every one of us took turn in singing the assigned song as long as the lyrics were known. Some were good. Some were mediocre. Some were bad. Some… sang badly on purpose. Mirco and Clarisse ended up whacking the Stolls on the head for that since I was too far to reach them. Apparently the rest of our group had also heard that Luke had nominated me as their babysitter. I sighed. This was going to be a long trip.

“C’mon, Clay, your turn!” Lee grinned next to me. I liked him. Laidback personality, talent for music, didn’t really get into trouble with anyone. Even Ares cabin tended to leave him alone. Maybe because he was also the counsellor of cabin seven.

“Nah… Do I have to?” I cringed. I didn’t care for singing. At least not when others could hear and separate my voice from others’.

“Everyone else did.” Lou Ellen piped up. “Surely you can do it too?” I didn’t like the glint in her eyes.

“Fine, fine… Any suggestions?”

“The Beatles.” Malcom threw in at the back of the van. I turned in my seat to look at the son of Athena fully.

“And which song would it be then?”

“Ooh, I know!” Kayla clapped her hands together enthusiastically and then leaned to whisper to Silena who was sitting next to her. The only cabin ten resident with us grinned brightly. I got even worse feeling.

“You shall sing us Oh, Darling. It’s said to be the hardest Beatles song to sing.”

So I sang. Luna loved the band so I knew the songs quite well by now. A couple of time I had to stop to cough my throat open because of how hoarse the song was sung. The performance wasn’t perfect by any means but I managed it ‘til the end.

“Satisfied?” I asked, taking a sip from the water bottle given to me by Castor. Or Pollux. I couldn’t tell them apart yet.

“Very.” Silena smiled before turning to talk with Kayla once again. From the corner of my eye I could see Lou Ellen giving smug looks to Samuel. I just sighed and turned to look out of the window of our cramped van whilst wondering what would be Thalassa’s target tonight. Something poked me again. I got a vague impression of wind and a rush but could have been the open window too.

* * *

We left our winter coats to the lobby of the Empire State Building and Chiron got the key card for the elevator. Miraculously we needed only one trip to the 600th floor. The elevator probably temporally magically expanded or something similar.

Once up there I couldn’t help but gape. Other campers next to me were in similar state. The Olympus was… magnificent. Full of white and gold. Marble everywhere. Pristine cleanness. Bright light.

“Tacky.” I said. The Stolls whirled to stare me. A few more Campers had heard me but decided to ignore it in favor of their awe of the place.

“Tacky?” Connor whispered. “This is Olympus, dude. _The_ Olympus.”

“Yep. And it’s great yeah… Brilliant, truly…” I ran a hand through my hair. It was almost grown out of the cut. I hadn’t let the Silena to touch it in the case she gave me a whole new haircut. “But it’s a bit too… Plain. Just white and gold. It pushes people away. This is a palace, a temple, a mountain… Not a home. But I suppose this is just fine place for gods.” I sighed as we began trailing through the halls after Chiron who was now out of his wheelchair.

“I suppose you are right.” Travis shrugged with mock seriousness. “I wouldn’t recommend this place either for extended stay.”

“Going to tourism business then, eh?” I nudged him with my elbow. The boy showed me back.

“Ey, knock it off.” Connor stepped between us. “I thought you were supposed to be the babysitter, Clay, not me.”

“Oh, shut it, Con-man.”

“And that joke is getting _so_ old.”

“Told in fitting place then. ‘cause this place is _ancient_.” Travis commented lightly.

“Travis, Connor, Clay, don’t get left behind.” Chiron called from the front of the group.

“Yeah.” We chorused and jogged to catch the rest. We were now going through an area where numerous stalls littered the streets. The vendors were vocal and smell of Greek food was everywhere. There even were stalls for souvenirs. But what I liked the most of them was the colors.  All sorts of colors on both sides of the streets. A nice change after the boring and cold and unwelcoming whiteness. Blame Luna. Yeah, it was good to blame her for me being so hung up on colors. She was right though.

“Hurry up campers, we need to get to the Council room before sundown.” Chiron called again. And was it my imagination but did the sun actually slow down? The time of Dusk seemed to stretch. I checked it later. And according to Lee the sun went down half an hour later than it should have. When such an observation was made, Chiron just sighed and told us it was Lady of the Dusk who must’ve heard us. The centaur said she had certain fondness towards demigods while she herself had had only few during the course of history. That was interesting because according to the information I had, Astraeus was male and he was the God of the Dusk. But maybe being the Lady of the Dusk was somewhat minor role despite the domain being the same. Some gods had overlapping domains after all... I didn’t know. And eventually I would forget about it.

* * *

We reached a pair of giant doors. Chiron gave us a moment to straighten our appearance. After all we’d just walked about the entirety of the modern Mount Olympus that hangs above the heads of the citizens of New York City.

“I shudder to think what would happen if this place were to fall down.” I muttered. Mirco and Clarisse snickered.

“It would be bad.” Travis stated solemnly.

“Very bad.” Conner nodded.

The doors opened and we were led inside. And… It was impressive. To see the full Olympian Council sitting on their thrones and either idly chatting with each other (surprisingly there was no arguments yet) or then glancing in our direction. I didn’t know what was so special about us in their eyes. I mean. We were just demigods amongst many. I wasn’t even that. But each of us would die eventually and become an insignificant drop in the vast ocean of memories for them…

So each of us introduced ourselves. I noted that only Candice and I were unclaimed ones. Two versus thirteen. I bet Chiron had something to do with this…

“Clay Gavin, undetermined.” I stated finally, offering a short bow to the twelve Olympians (plus Hades and Hestia). I was the last of the line, right after the Stolls. And I noticed Ares giving me a death glare. I admit I was a bit intimidated by it. How in earth could Luna work with him?

We were ushered to sit by the side, sort of out of the view of half of the council. Since the position of the thrones was the same than of the cabins at Camp Half-Blood, we were sat behind the goddesses plus Dionysus. I wasn’t sure what the strategy behind that was. Maybe so the boys wouldn’t ogle the females’ front side – they were wearing long chitons after all – and their backside was safe due the coverage of the backrests of their thrones. Or then because gods simply had more children than goddesses they should keep an eye on the kids. Or because Hera didn’t want to see us, we were put behind her back. Yeah, let’s go with that last one.

* * *

The conversation, debates and arguments began. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. For gods they were being very childish. On opposite side of the horseshoe formation, sitting next to Hermes, the Lord of the Underworld seemed to have similar thoughts. Well, he was the eldest of the brothers; it was only right that he was more mature than the other two. Though being trapped in the Underworld for millenniums and otherwise treated unfairly probably didn’t help the temper problems that all of the Olympian family more or less had. Grainzilla, anyone? But Hades could be more mature about them. Right? Right.

As if sensing my thoughts, the Rich One glanced into my direction just as I was hiding a yawn behind my palm. I shut my mouth with soft clack of teeth and arched my eyebrows at the gaze. The eldest brother of Big Three just shook his head before glancing at the ceiling in exasperation. Yeah, my thoughts exactly.

Then suddenly wind blew into the Council room. It wasn’t harsh, just a soft gust that ruffled hair gently. The voices grew silent. The gods looked at each other.

“It wasn’t me.” Zeus, Lord of the Sky, immediately said.

“No. It’s the Snatcher Gale.” Hermes chuckled. “The great thief Thalassa is striking tonight.”

“Yes… That ingrate.”

I didn’t react to the insult towards my sister. Less clues the gods had, the better. I could see not even Hestia or Apollo reacted.

“She should be stopped.” Athena told the others imperiously. “At this rate, she’ll collect all of the Stones.”

“Ah, yes. It was your stone that was taken first, wasn’t it?” Ares smirked at his rival. And cue the wisdom goddess silently seething.

“I don’t see why. She obviously eats her cereal. And she can’t use the stones if she isn’t a demigod and even then there is restrictions to it. Certain stones react only to certain persons.” Demeter sighed, while picking some invisible lint from her dress.

“My stone wasn’t the first one found. The last stone owl guarding the stone managed to inform me that various other guardians were slayed with Lady Sky.”

Now that got the attention of others. Especially that of Zeus, Poseidon, Ares and Hephaestus.

“Lady Sky? Now that hasn’t been seen in ages.” Poseidon began somewhat smugly. “You sure you don’t have another demigod in hiding who received the sword?”

“Of course not! Thalia was the only one.” And a glare was thrown in Hades’ direction. The Silent One didn’t react. At least not outwardly.

“Are you sure it was the Lady Sky?” Hephaestus asked Athena. Meanwhile Ares kept a close eye on them. Probably trying to fish out any information he could and then either blackmail me or Luna, or then come up with new torturing… ahem, training techniques for my sister.

“Yes. The last owl had been guarding the stone for centuries and saw also the ring containing Lady Sky.”

I shut off the remainder of the conversation when the wind blew into the room once again. I could feel a poke again. It was right behind my eyes. I could almost hear a giggle and feel a flash of light green light. Same green that of Persephone’s stone. One for teleportation. And apparently for telepathy too.

 _“Tuuli nousee…”_ Luna whispered in my mind.

 _“…on uskallettava elää.”_ I thought back.

* * *

The wind is rising… we must try to live!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahaa... I made Olympus all marble and gold... But after watching Assassin's Creed Odyssey playthroughs... That's not how Ancient Greece was. It used to be colorful and stuff. Sort of funny to think about it now but I'm not changing things here.
> 
> Explanations picked from FFN:  
> 1\. Porridge: I love rice porridge. And hunting for the almond is fun. Even though I'm an adult already. Clay pretty much describes the Christmas of our family here by the way.  
> 2\. Thalassa: Let's just say I'm happy the Olympians aren't suspecting the actual Thalassa being the thief.  
> 3\. Lady Sky: She'd be a perfect weapon for Thalia or Jason. Just saying. Probably Hephaestus made. And here was the meaning of the dissapearing Minerva Owl. The bird can't give Athena a visual though so she doesn't know what Clay and Luna look like. And Ares stays quiet to get a one up on Athena.  
> 4\. Hestia and Apollo: Of course they know what is going on. After all Hestia protects the home of the siblings and Apollo is God of Prophecy. And I think they are quite the trolls sometimes.  
> 5\. Lady of Dusk: She will appear later. But she is important. Just saying.  
> 6\. "Tuuli nousee... On uskallettava elää." : Quote in Finnish from Hayao Miyazaki's last movie. "The wind is rising… we must try to live!"


	9. In which there is time and place for everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clay makes a friend, Luna makes discoveries, things go on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original note from FFN:  
> You know... You can review. I don't bite. Much.  
> Well, in this chapter Clay and Candice talk about their thoughts of gods and camp and stuff. There is some mild-bashing but mostly rational thoughts and justified opinions. I tried to be fair even though the gods are quite unfair.  
> I also try to explore a bit the sibling bond between Clay and Luna as well as Clay's demigod abilities... Or something.

**Chapter 9: In which there is time and place for everything**  

The waiting game began. Or something similar to it. The gods were tense in apprehension or anticipation. Hard to tell which it was really. They were surprisingly quiet about the matter. They were waiting for any sign to know which stone would be gone this time. What I heard from the few whispers between the Olympians, the winds matched the heist of Godless Stone scale. Apparently it had been calmer when some random gemstone had been taken and later returned. Well, it wasn’t like I knew what was going on in my sister’s head…

Despite the fact she was currently in _my_ head.

You heard it. She was in my head. More or less. What little she told in the midst of the heist, she had went to library again as soon as the school let her out and went to look for information about the stones. Thus discovering about the telepathy function and now testing it. The poking I’d felt since morning had been her testing the… ‘radio waves’ so she had the correct recipient. Well, as long as the gods couldn’t hijack the connection I was fine with this. After all she couldn’t read my thoughts with it, only what I sent her. Like a chatroom. Quite handy actually.

 _“What’s your target?”_ I decided to ask her once I got bored in the anxious and hushed silence of the Throne Room. The Stolls weren’t wreaking havoc yet so I didn’t need to keep them still. I could only wonder how long the peace would last. On either part really.

 _“Like I’m telling you.”_ Luna scoffed and wind caressed her skin again. Was she in good terms with the Anemoi now? _“It’s something special though. Not a regular Stone.”_

_“Okay…”_

_“Hush now, I need to concentrate.”_ The wind was gone now. Maybe she had gone inside her target building?

“This will lead to nothing.” Hera stated right then. “Let’s end this meeting. I have better things to do now. And I’m _sure_ some of you want to spend time with your _offspring_.” She sneered. I was glad I didn’t see her face since while surely beautiful she was, sneers had the bad habit of contorting even prettiest of faces to quite the hideous form. I doubted even Aphrodite could pull it off properly. If only because of the context of the expression.

“Yes…” Zeus agreed with his wife. I always wondered why he married her. I mean… what I read of the myths, he chose her because no one else wanted to be his wife after what happened to Metis and the other women weren’t queen material, just threw themselves at his feet or were one night stands… So basically Hera was the last resort who didn’t really even want to marry him in the beginning but was tricked into it. Something about taking care of a cuckoo bird that was injured and eventually telling it ‘luv ya’. Turned out Zeus was the cuckoo bird, so marriage ahoy! Idiotic if you ask me. But they wouldn’t ask and I wouldn’t tell. I didn’t want to get smote after all. And one shouldn’t get me started on marrying your own sister… The incest that had been and still was prevalent in the Greek mythology sickened me. Thankfully I could skip the history lessons now after I’d given sufficient proof of my knowledge. And I could always read stuff on my own.

“The meeting is adjourned.” Somewhere a gong echoed. At least I thought it was a gong despite it being Chinese percussion instrument. It surely sounded like a gong…

My thoughts came to a halt when we were being ushered out of our seats. Of course it wasn't right for us to remain seated when the gods stood up. Higher standing and respect and some such. I remembered when Luna and our mother watched Pride and Prejudige, there was a scene during which mother explained that it wasn’t right for men to sit down while women stood and the same went with younger-older comparison too. Or alternatively demigod-god scale. Yeah. Most of the Olympians left the Throne room immediately. Hades did too. Meanwhile another woman had arrived. She was dressed in the same green than Hecate’s Eye was… Hmm… Maybe she was the Goddess of Magic herself, Lou Ellen’s mother.

Chiron said we had sort of free time now. To talk with our godly parent for the first time or whatever. I didn’t really care. I was more concerned about Luna. What images and thoughts she sent me, told she was doing just fine. She was in some sort of armory part of a museum, sneaking around guards.

“Psst, Clay…” Connor leaned towards me with a mischievous look on his face.

“Yeah?”

“Do you think…-?” But whatever he was about to suggest, was interrupted by Malcolm.

“The Unholy Alliance better not be plotting anything suspicious!”

“Malcolm!” Travis groaned.

“We weren’t planning anything!” Connor added.

“Yeah, sure.” Candice snorted. The tension and formality from before was now effectively broken.

“The Unholy… Alliance?” Athena frowned with a strange look in her eyes. Was it amusement?

“That’s what cabin six calls those three.” Kayla snickered. “Ever since Clay was banned from Capture the Flag and ganged up with Stolls…”

“Not to mention his latest prank…” Lou Ellen grinned. She was about to continue but Samuel had clapped hands over her mouth. This drew amused look from Hermes and excited titter from Aphrodite. Meanwhile Hecate just lurked nearby, waiting for a chance to greet her daughter.

“Are you crazy?” Samuel hissed to her ear. “You’d be writing Clay’s death sentence.” Lou’s eyes widened and she nodded rapidly. I let out a sigh of relief before composing myself.

“I swear I won’t be doing anything suspicious during this trip; I already have these two idiots to babysit.” I slapped both Stolls at the back of their heads. “But Malcolm, you just had to bring up that name? I thought you were more tolerable sort of your fellow fledglings…” I frowned at the boy who glared back. For my luck Athena didn’t take offence at my subtle jab at her children. Well, considering that quarrels were so common between the cabins at the camp I shouldn’t have been concerned. But better safe than sorry, right?

* * *

The group dispersed then. Mirco and Clarisse followed Ares to training grounds while Apollo no doubt went to show the Sun Chariot to Lee and Kayla. The Stolls and Samuel began telling Hermes immediately about the recent happenings at the camp and their life in general, and took seats on the chairs we demigods had used. Though the messenger god did transfigure his chair into a miniature version of his throne. The rest of the group scattered to ever which way. Except Candice and I. Even Chiron had gone to find some of his acquaintances to talk with. Probably the centaur’s former student or something.

I looked at Candice. The girl sighed with slumped shoulders.

“Situations like this always remind me that my parent is still yet to claim me.”

“Parent? Don’t you even know which…?” I trailed off when she shook her head.

“No. I used to live with my aunt. She had brother and sister who died in a car crash. Next day I was at her house with a short note explaining what I am and about the camp. Auntie tried to ignore it especially since it wasn’t signed… But eventually monsters began appearing. She drove me all the way to the camp when I was ten. That was four years ago. Apart from Iris messages, I haven’t seen her since.” Candice sighed again. “But even she doesn’t know which one of her siblings I belonged to. Or then she didn’t want to think about it as that was the case more often than not.”

“I’m sorry.” I said because there really wasn’t anything else for me to say. Many demigods came from tricky situations and I knew Candice’s story was far from the worst while it wasn't very good either. I could understand where she was coming from with her attitude though. “Would you like to take a walk?” I offered my arm. She gave me a wry smile but linked her arm with mine anyways.

“Why not? We shouldn’t waste an opportunity to sightsee unsupervised.”

We headed out of the Throne room and towards the stalls we’d seen earlier. Maybe we could buy some souvenirs… If the prices weren’t completely outrageous. On the way we chatted a bit this and that. She enquired my thoughts about my godly parent. I replied honestly that I wasn’t in hurry. After all there was so many other kids waiting to be claimed and even more would be on the upcoming summer.

“Besides… I have my sister. She is brilliant and has always been there for me. Nothing can come between us. Then there is our mother. I don’t know anyone more loving despite being strict, too. Except maybe Lady Hestia.” Candice quirked an eyebrow. I coughed nervously. “I… I met her this morning when others were still asleep. We talked a bit.”

“Clay Gavin… You definitely defy all the expectations.”

“Yeah. I suppose I do.”

“What about rest of your family?”

“Well… There is Luna’s father. But I’ve always called him my dad.” Because he really was. “I knew we weren’t blood related but it never really mattered. He was the father I needed. And still need. I’m planning to try and get some sort of permission to come and go as I please. The transportation isn’t the problem for me, just permission. I want to go home and see my family.” Even if they are only photos.

“The camp isn’t your home yet, is it?” Candice asked gently. I shook my head.

“No, it isn’t. At least not yet. I miss my family way too much. It is only a place to stay. Mum told me that she has experienced the same when she was studying at college. The apartment where she lived at the campus was just that. An apartment. Not a home. What about you?”

“I… Auntie’s house was my home. But I think Camp is my home now too. It’d be nice to meet her again though.” She bit her lip. “Auntie makes the world’s best apple pie. She always sends some for my birthdays but it isn’t the same that eating it fresh from the oven.”

* * *

We arrived to the stalls and began to peruse the selection. The prices were quite high for a regular demigod. Especially of those from the collectables like of the _Hercules busts heads_ –series. So from there we continued to the gardens. This time our subject was the quests.

“Luke is the last one to get a quest. He got two other demigods with him, son of Ares and daughter of Demeter. They didn’t return and even Luke didn’t escape unscathed.”

“The scar on his face.”

“Yeah. If he hadn’t had the enchanted shoes he got from Lord Hermes for the quest that the god himself assigned, Luke probably would’ve died too.” Candice shook her head sadly. “The quest was a suicide since the beginning. Lord Hermes just couldn’t come up with anything else. All gods look at Hercules and his achievements in awe. Think the stuff he did is easy for us to do even though he was overpowered since the beginning, not even remotely human. He did feats that we can only dream of. Or have nightmares of. I think Chiron was right in banning the quests. At least until the gods realize to be more reasonable with them.”

“I wonder how long that will take.” I remarked dryly. “Gods are quite stagnant beings. While they may adjust to modern times, they still remain exactly the same with the same ideals and thought-patterns than during the ancient times.”

“Yes. And I don’t…” Candice seemed to think about her answer for a while. “I want to go on a quest. Someday. Maybe some random monster hunt if they are terrorizing mortals of something. Not an impossible task for the amusement of the gods. But I’m not in hurry either. I don’t get that Athena girl’s - Annabeth’s - insistence to get out of Camp. While she arrived even before me, she is still young. She should enjoy the life she has now, maybe even go to school. Camp does have funds and her father is alive despite her insistence otherwise.”

“I think… I think that must be something to do with her fatal flaw.” I suggested lightly. Candice shot me a look.

“Well, it’s quite obvious what it is then.”

“Yes, it is.” I nodded as we approached one of the marble benches in the garden. It was quiet and serene there despite the festives that would no doubt take place all around Olympus. Candice took a seat on it and I sat next to her.

“The system is faulty.” She stated then. “The system at the camp. How our cabin is overcrowded and not even ours. How everyone has to wait so long. How even if you are claimed, you might never get out of cabin eleven…”

“How people stereotype you based on your parent. How you are expected to follow your parents footsteps in whom to like and be friends with…” I continued.

“How everything is so restricted. Never leaving the camp unless it’s a trip like this. Not knowing what happens in the real world but what makes to the papers. No contact with old friends, ever…” The girl sighed and flipped her hair.

“No entertainment but campsongs and humiliation of others. No electronics ‘cause then monsters will find us. No adult figures in life but a drunkard and ancient horse…” I shrugged before crossing my arms. Our complaining began sounding like lyrics of a song.

“It sucks to be a demigod. It sucks to live life of danger…” Candice threw a smirk in my direction. I grinned back. My foot was beating a rhythm against the marble tiles forming pathways on the grass.

“It sucks to compete all the time. It sucks to praise gods who don’t give a damn…”

“They exist only because of us and we exist because of them. It’s a vicious cycle that we can’t break.”

“A vicious cycle that they don’t want to break. A vicious cycle we are stuck in.”

“But I’m just fine. And my actions are entirely justified.” Dayum, she actually could sing. I doubted she was Apollo’s daughter though.

“I don’t need immoral immortals in my life.” Mediocre singing from my part then. Nah, I was alright. I just didn’t like singing.

“I just gotta prove my point. I just gotta make a stand.”

“I just gotta fight on my fa~ther’s land.”

“This is just me. This is right now.” Candice laid a hand on her heart and looked up at me pleadingly. I didn’t know if it was ‘finish these lyrics already’ or ‘I’m right here, lyrics say so and I’m acting them out’. Well… It was the time to wrap it up then.

“This is what we believe. And what we’ll shout cle~ar and loud.”

Tada. It was over. I glanced at Candice and we both began chuckling at our silliness.

“That was a good song.” She grinned. “You should write it up and give the lyrics to rest of your siblings.”

“Why me? Wait-!” I began in indignation only to my thoughts to come an abrupt halt when I caught up what she was saying. “You…”

“While some people at the camp are clueless of your parentage, it has been obvious to me ever since the first archery lesson. You were failing on purpose, not doing your best, and I can see things like that.” She gave me ‘oh, _please_ ’ –look. “I’ve got lot of money in the betting pool so you better be who I think you are. I do not like losing and if I lose _you_ won’t like the consequences.”

I raised an amused eyebrow at her. “Oh yeah?”

“Hell yeah.” She glared.

“Alright then.” I shrugged and got on my feet. “Fancy exploring more?”

“It’s not like I have anything else to do. Everyone else are mingling with their parents.” The girl snorted. “Very strategic of Chiron. Make sure that as many claimed children are with him so as few as possible will be unsupervised when the Council meeting is over…”

“And it serves as an ego boost to the Olympians too. ‘Look, here is your kids. You are good parents since you have claimed them and they wanted to come and see you’.”

“And the kids will just lap it up because it is probably the first and only time that they ever meet their godly parent. Basking in the presence of divine. What about the unclaimed and of minor gods? We are just pushed aside! It’s so unfair.”

I could see this was going to dangerous waters. I didn’t want Candice to fall into Luke’s clutches like Ethan, Silena, Alabaster and others…

“But since when we had to care?” I asked, pocketing my hands. “Yeah, it’s a bit uncomfortable at the crowded cabin but what does it matter? In the end the gods are minor part of our lives. Just push some food into the fire and send it to a god or goddess of your choice. Learn what we are taught about them. Tolerate Mr. D’s presence… And then what? We have each other. In the end we can do whatever we want to. And someday even leave the camp and live like a regular mortal. Even if it sucks to be a demigod~.”

“You are right. Maybe one day I can leave and meet auntie again. I’d like to go to school again. Learn to read and write properly. I heard that the Hecate kids are combining efforts with Apollo and Hephaestus cabins to make eyeglasses to bypass dyslexia.” She smiled. It was a pretty smile. But I wasn’t interested in her romantically. She was too young to my tastes despite being physically a year older than I. After all, mentally I was in my late teens already. Eighteen and a bit more…

“That sounds great. I bet Athena cabin especially is ecstatic.”

“You bet. Annabeth almost fell off her seat during ancient Greek lesson when Alabaster told about the project.” Candice snickered before we headed back to the Council room. It was almost midnight already. Strange how the time seemed to fly.

* * *

A dagger. On the next day we heard that the thief Thalassa had stolen a celestial bronze dagger with an aquamarine embed in the handle. The name wasn’t in ancient Greek anymore but in modern. Κόφτης Kύμα. The Wave Cutter. Simple name for simple weapon. But what made it interesting was the fact it wasn’t remnants of Poseidon’s power but that of Triton. The Crown Prince of Atlantis hadn’t been too impressed but according to the Lord of the Sea, hadn’t reacted much either.

With those news, our group of fifteen demigods were finally given a tour around the Palace. Our tour guide was no other than Hebe, goddess of youth and many other things, former cupbearer, daughter of Zeus and Hera and… what else? Oh yeah! She was also Hercules’ wife. Considering there was one or two of her children at the camp, there wasn’t much love between the couple. Well, no wonder. She was given practically as a price to him when the pompous fame-leeching incompetent prat died and was granted an immortality. And wasn’t it incest in a sense? Hercules was Zeus’ son after all… Though the Olympian Royal couple was siblings too… While DNA obviously wasn’t a problem to the gods some of the relationships simply sickened me. Like Poseidon sleeping with Gaia. What the hell drove him into it… I really didn’t want to know. I used to think that weird Greek myths were just ways to justify ancient Greek people’s own habits. Cheating your spouse, marrying your preteen (and virgin) daughter off to a way older man, treating your children unfairly… All of those could be justified if one read a bit of the ancient stories. So yeah. Immoral immortals indeed.

We wandered through the halls and corridors, visited temples and gardens. Hebe explained the sights well and even the Stolls were listening. I guess she could relate to us, being the goddess of youth and all.

“Lunch will be served soon at the guest quarters.” Hebe smiled when we exited Demeter’s temple. It had been quite a nice one, if a bit plain and grain now on winter time… I was definitely hungry if even my puns were this bad.

* * *

On the night was… a party. Bit like the one at the end of Titan’s Curse. Everyone was enjoying it. Even I did somewhat. I was never a party person. Neither was Luna. Speaking of which… I should probably contact her.

I closed the notebook to which I had been writing up the song lyrics Candice and I came up on the previous day, and headed out of the party hall. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the said girl talking with a beautiful woman before bursting into tears and hugging her. I smiled faintly at the scene. That was probably her mother then…

Finding myself at the garden again, I sat beneath a willow tree and leaned against the rough bark. I gathered my knees against my chest and wrapped my arms around them.

 _“Luna…”_ I thought and tried to concentrate on the feeling I had last time of her but this time I also thought about the warm feeling of home protected by Hestia’s wards. It felt like she was just out of my grasp. Considering this was the first time of me contacting her like this… Well, I just needed more practice. And I wasn’t even sure if the stone needed be on her person every time we needed to talk. Probably yes.

 _“Clay!”_ I winced at the volume when she finally answered. But with a smile I closed my eyes and grasped the strand of light green in my mind. The color was the one connecting us and now that I examined it, I found it similar in color to Green Flash. Or maybe it was the color of the stone… I had to ask Luna later.

 _“Hello, little sister.”_ I greeted her.

 _“I’m the older one, Clay. Really.”_ Luna grumbled. There was warmth around her. She was probably at the European styled part of the house, in front of the fireplace.

_“Does it matter?”_

_“I guess not…”_ She sighed. _“I miss you Clay.”_

_“I miss you too, Luna.”_

_“And Christmas is so soon…”_

_“I’ll Iris Message you then, okay?”_

_“Okay.”_ There was a silence. Then… _“I miss you, brother.”_

_“I miss you too.”_

We spent long moments like this. Just enjoying the presence of each other. Time to time Luna would say ‘I miss you’ to which I would every time answer ‘I miss you too’. She really was lonely. It saddened me I couldn’t comfort her any other way.

And in that spot I fell asleep still feeling Luna near me but asleep too.

* * *

Next day I found myself waking up in the guest quarters. On breakfast I heard that some nymphs had found me and carried to a bed. I shrugged concerned glances away and soon we were in the elevator on our way to downstairs.

* * *

23rd December: As soon as we were inside the Camp borders, a golden hologram appeared above Candice Williams’ head. It consisted a pair of wings and a laurel wreath between them. She was daughter of Nike, the Goddess of Victory.

28th December: Thalia’s birthday. A flat packet appeared tied on one of the branches. Once Annabeth opened it, she found Green Day’s album American Idiot wrapped inside electric blue silk scarf. She stashed them inside the backpack Thalia had used when they were on the run.

1st January, 2005: Nine-year old Hannah Summers’ father dies in a hit and run. She is left with her horrid step-mother who'd married the man for money.

8th January, 2005: Clay Gavin beats Dionysus in Pinochle ten times in a row and gets a permission to exit the camp any time he wants to as long as he informs either the god or Chiron about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original A/N from FFN:  
> Yay, Candice is claimed now. Did anyone quess her godly parent during reading this? I was contemplating for a long time who I'd chose and if I'd reveal it at the end of the chapter but... I think she deserved to be finally claimed. Four years at the camp and no sign of mother. And despite her attitude at the beginning I didn't want her to join Kronos later on. Surname Williams came from Serena and Venus Williams, professional tennis players. I doubt I've described her looks here so you can imagine yourself what she'll look like. Maybe she is black, maybe white... Who knows. Maybe she is good at tennis too.  
> And no, I'm not pairing him with Clay. She is mentally too young and Clay is sort fo pining after Thalia... Pining. Heh. But Lou Ellen will become an item with Samuel. They simply have that chemistry already. Candice in the other hand may attract our Southern boy Mirco's attention. Maybe.  
> I want Luna back. Clay misses her too much. And Luna is so alone too... Thankfully, Clay can play pinochle so well...  
> Who is Hannah Summers then? Any ideas? Stay tuned for the next chapters.


	10. In which there is death upon flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clay wins a bet and goes home. Mysteries are unearthed and siblings are uneasy. Luna gets to talk with demigods.

**Chapter 10: In which there is death upon flowers**

** 6th January, 2005 **

I laid my cards on the table. It was the last game. Opposite me, Mr. D tossed his own to the side. It was his tenth loss in a row. And while I hadn’t beaten Chiron in this game either, it didn’t matter. I beat Mr. D ten times in a row meaning that I won the bet. Now I had the permission to leave the camp anywhen I wanted to as long as I informed either Chiron or Mr. D about it. And yes, while I had beaten Mr. D on my first day at the camp it didn’t I mean would’ve necessarily succeeded with ten in a row. But I did it. There was a stunned silence around us. Only Candice was smirking with me. She probably predicted the outcome, being the daughter of Nike and all. At least her attitude improved vastly after being determined. Discovery and affirmation of her own identity and all.

“You leaving right away then?” Mr. D grunted, nodding at the backpack at my feet.

“Yeah… Ought to go home to check how the things are before the next school terms starts. Catch up with mortal relatives and all that jazz.” I shrugged. “Probably catching up with school stuff too… So I’ll be back within two weeks unless something comes up.”

“Hop along then. And remove that smug look off your face!”

“Yessir!” I bit back a laugh as I vacated my chair. Candice, the Stolls and a couple of other campers followed me to the border of the Camp.

“You will be careful, alright?” Lou Ellen told me concernedly. Samuel put an arm on her shoulders comfortingly.

“Of course Lou. No worries.” I smiled to the girl. “I’ll Iris message you when I’m home. And who knows… Maybe I’ll get Luna to talk with you guys too.” Yep, it was still a public secret. The matter of my sister. Though only my closest friends knew about her. Closest friends meaning Lou Ellen, Samuel, Candice, Mirco, Clarisse, Luke, the Stolls, Lee… None from Athena or Aphrodite cabin. I hadn’t met any Demeter kids this far… Except for two who went home for holidays but I didn’t really interact with them. Aside from beating the boy in sword fighting during the first week in.

“You would?” Connor asked excitedly.

“Yeah. Gather to … the Zeus’ Fist in the afternoon.” I nodded. “I bet she’d like to talk with you guys too.” I heaved my back pack on my shoulder. “But I’m off now. See ya guys.”

“Hey, Clay!” Luke was coming running towards up. I got a strange sense of Déjà vu. After all in the Lightning Thief he did – will do – the same with Percy and company. Right here on Half-Blood Hill.

“’lo, Atmey!” I raised my hand in greeting.

“Going home, eh?” The older boy grinned, clapping a hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah. Like I told you I would.”

“Say… Your sister’s surname is Cykes, right?” The son of Hermes enquired. I raised a skeptical eye brow.

“Yeah from… her father. How so?”

The teenager gave me an envelope. “I want you to ask her about this photo. It’s alright if she doesn’t know anything about it but…”

I took the envelope. “Is this about some other person named Cykes?”

“…Yeah.” Luke shrugged. “Someone I knew. Knew about demigods all along but wasn’t one herself. The way you spoke of your sister… The description was familiar.”

“Okay then. I’ll ask.” I pocketed the envelope. My tone was light and nonchalant but deep down I had a cold feeling gnawing me. The implications behind this person in that photo could be anything. Maybe she was real and this was a coincidence. Maybe she was real and this was not a coincidence. Maybe Luke had made her up and this had some superior motives. If the last one was the real option, then what were those motives exactly? Some small part of Cronos’s plan? Some part of Luke’s plan?

Or maybe I was overthinking everything.

I just smiled and bid one last good bye before trekking down the hill towards the road. Once out of sight I let out a low whistle. A familiar gallop sounded when Kuroto emerged from behind the trees.

“Hello, old chap.” And how British was that? “How have you been?” I raised my hand to pat his nose gently. The kelpie nuzzled my face and huffed hot air into my hair, making me laugh. “I missed you too, buddy.”

I climbed on the saddle that Luna had apparently put on Kuroto beforehand, and adjusted my bow quiver on my waist to ensure it wouldn’t jostle uncomfortably nor let any arrows fall off. Better safe than sorry after all. “Alright, Kuroto. Let’s go home.”

* * *

The journey went quickly by thanks to the magical speed of the horse. In no time I was in front of the house Luna and I lived in. And since the school term hadn’t begun yet it meant that most likely Luna was also home. Teleportation stone or not.

I opened the front door of the European side of the house after relieving Kuroto from the saddle.

“Luna? You here?” I called and placed the saddle on a rack in the hall. I took off my shoes and put some slippers on. Something that both Japanese and Finns agree on: Slippers on inside the house. Though for different reasons. Courtesy at Japan but cold floors at Finland.

I got no answer. That didn’t worry me though. No one could get in here without a permission. I laid my bow, quiver and back pack on the floor and made my way through the rooms. First the European side. The winter side so to say. She wasn’t in the kitchen nor at the bedrooms. I quickly took a look at the Japanese rooms too but she wasn’t there either. That left the living room. And indeed. The girl… or rather the woman, was lying on the sofa, her boot-clad legs hanging off the arm rest. She was still in the form she took as Thalassa. In the same clothes even. There must have been a heist last night. I didn’t follow much the news and everyone had been busy around the camp so even Mirco or any of the Athena’s. That’s New Year’s celebrations and aftermath for you.

Luna was deep asleep. She even had her mask on her face. That was probably what was keeping her illusion-like disguise on.

“Luna… I’m home…” I sighed and began pulling the boots off her feet. “And just how late did you stay up?”

She just dozed away. I carefully removed the mask from her face and laid it on the cloak she’d tossed on the coffee table along with her most recent trophy. It looked like a kid of a necklace with a spectrolite in it. Behind me, Luna’s form glowed faintly in pink and shrunk to her normal size, leaving her in slightly too big adult clothes. Well at least her feet weren’t hanging off the sofa anymore. I took another look at the mask and noticed it wasn’t dark blue anymore but simple white of the same shape and the pink gem embed on its forehead. Probably one of Luna’s own inventions.

I went to fetch my stuff from the hall and took them to my room. And from the pocket of my winter coat I took the envelope Luke had given to me. I gave it a hard look. I really wanted to open it and see what was inside but at the same I knew that’d be offending the confidentiality of correspondence. Maybe I should let Luna take a look at it first and then see for myself if she let me. Yeah, let’s go with that.

I made my way back to the living room where my sister was still sleeping. The living room was… quite normal in my opinion. But for some strange reason it also really appealed to my sense of style when it came to furnishing… The overall look in the entire house was simple, functional and stylish. There was nothing extra and nothing extravagant. Unless you counted the black grand piano in the living room corner. Coincidentally it was exactly the same than back at our home. Down to the brand of it. And the more I thought about this place the more it felt like someone had made it specifically to us. There was Japanese style that we were used to in the previous world and European style that was familiar to us since we were little. Our rooms were just the right size. Not too big nor too small. The kitchen was simple and clear of design. And this living room… One sofa, two arm chairs. A low coffee table in the middle, a higher and smaller one at the side. A television set at one wall with a good view to it from the sofa. And naturally the piano at the other wall.

And of course that was when Luke’s words came to haunt me along with the lines of the prophecy. Past is future… Future is past? Considering this was the world of gods… What if…? I shook my head. No, it was impossible. I better not let my thoughts wander to that direction. The present was the most important thing right now.

* * *

It wasn’t until way ‘til midday that Luna finally woke up. She yawned and stretched and when she finally noticed me in the armchair, she greeted me cheerfully. How typical. It seemed as if nothing would surprise her.

“So… What have you been doing lately? Had a good holiday this far?” I asked and put my computer aside. It felt good to use some technology after those months at the Camp.

“Hmm… Nothing much. Tracking down stones, figuring out security systems, some of my own research, some homework on the first day out of school, figuring out the routes at the Labyrinth… Stuff like that.” Luna waved a dismissive hand. “Being relieved that Grover isn’t stalking me anymore, sleeping more than normally, reading books, doing other stuff…” She yawned again and pulled herself to sit on the sofa instead of just lounging on it.

“I see.” I nodded. “You better take a shower and change clothes: makes you feel less tired. I’ll start preparing our lunch. After that I’ll call to the Camp.”

“Only came back and already bossing around?” Luna laughed. “I missed you, lil’ bro.” She gave me a quick hug before skipping away towards the bathroom.

“And here I thought I was the older one…” I grumbled. Hmm… What to make for lunch? Spaghetti? That’s sounds good yeah…

* * *

Food was good and nicely different to Camp food. Luna also enjoyed immensely. She didn’t care much for the food at school and hadn’t felt like cooking much while alone at home.

“It’s just… Feels strange to cook if I’m the only one who will eat. Besides you are the cook of the family.” She explained while gathering the plates. “I make the table and handle the dishwasher.”

“Well, yeah.” I shrugged. I dug my hands into the pockets of my trousers, encountering the envelope from Luke. “By the way… Luke sent you some mail.”

“He did?” Luna looked up in surprise. I simply gave the letter to her. She ripped the envelope open and fished a single photograph from there. The expression she made… was quite interesting. Like a spit-take without any drink. Her eyes budged out and her mouth thinned into nothing. Then it was over. Luna’s face relaxed and she began frowning, mouth slightly open. She was speechless.

“Well?” I enquired.

“This…” Luna began but stopped to search for the right words. “Who is this girl?”

“Something Cykes. According to Luke that is. Didn’t tell me much, only to ask you.”

“This gotta be some kind of bad joke. When is this taken?” She flipped the photo over to look at the back of it. “2000? During the time he was on the run?”

“What sort of background does it have?”

“Orange trees… Looks like an orchard. There are lilacs behind them. And some houses.” My sister frowned some more as she squinted at the photograph.

“Who are in the picture?”

“Luke… He seems around your current age. Then there is that girl… a bit younger than him.”

“If you aren’t showing me that picture, could you tell me what she looks like?” I offered carefully. As an answer she pushed the photo back to my hands and went to arrange the dishes to the dishwasher. The photo had really shaken her up. I took a look at it. On the back of the photo was a date indeed. July, 2000. It also said that Thalia was the one to take the photo. If Luke had known this girl as a child and met her again during the time he was on the run with Thalia (and Annabeth too since this was the year they arrived on the camp) most likely the photo was taken when he visited home, the girl being his neighbor.

I turned the photo around to take a look on the picture. It had Luke indeed. Young, scarless and smiling. A bit thin and dirty but that was expected, having been on the run and all. He had thrown his arm around a girl with a sunny smile. Her hair was honey blonde, tied on one long braid that fell down on her shoulder, and eyes of very pale blue. She was wearing a light purple top and a crescent shaped necklace made of…

“Platinum. At least I think it is. It could be white gold too.” Lune interrupted my thoughts. She continued clinking the plates whilst facing away from me. I could see she was obviously disturbed by the girl in the picture. No wonder. The alikeness was frightening.

“I think I need to ask Luke more about this. I’m going to call back to camp today anyways.” I stated then. “Do you wanna talk with them? Travis and Connor really wanted to meet you.”

“I’ll think about it. But what’s your opinion about that picture.” Luna slammed the dishwasher shut and turned around, her hands on her hips.

“Without more information I can’t say really… But either this is one hell of coincidence or…”

“Or the universe is screwing with us.” My sister spat. The photo had obviously put her on a bad mood.

“Yes. That is also possible.” I nodded slowly. “But now you should go and calm down while I call my friends. Okay?”

“Sure.” Luna muttered and stormed out of the kitchen. I hoped she wouldn’t go a break something.

* * *

“Oh, goddess accept my offering.” I chanted to the rainbow that was sprouted from a water sprinkler outside our house. The golden coin was in. “The Stoll brothers, Camp Half-Blood.”

The image simmered to reveal my friends. Apparently they’d gathered everyone who were in on the secret. I wonder how long it would remain as a secret. Hopefully at least a year more. I had a plan for future.

“Hello guys!” I greeted them.

“’lo, Clay!” The Stolls chorused with Samuel and Lou Ellen.

“You made it safely home then.” Luke smiled from his perch on top of the boulder.

“I did, yes.” I grinned back. “Luna’s here too. She’ll be back soon.”

“What about your parents?” Candice frowned.

“They’re… at work still. Well, Luna’s dad is. Mom is making last minute grocery shopping before the shops close.” I lied smoothly. If they noticed it, none of them mentioned it.

“That’s your house then?” Mirco asked. “Looks nice.”

“Yeah, this is the outside of one half. Mom and dad… Well, they liked the uniqueness of this house. One half European and one Japanese. This is the Japanese side and the backyard.” I explained.

“That’s… interesting.” Lou nodded thoughtfully.

“Yeah. I like this place though. We’ve been living here since summer.”

“Is that house in New York by any chance?” Luke asked suddenly. I turned slowly to look at the older boy. He was frowning thoughtfully. And my thoughts were racing.

“Yes, it is. Close by anyways.” I shrugged nonchalantly. At least as much as I could with the unease I was feeling. Thankfully right then the paper screen door behind me opened and Luna stepped outside.

“So these are your friends?” She said by introduction and plopped down next to me.

“Yeah. Majority of them live in the same cabin than I… I explained the cabin system to you, didn’t I?” Oh, it was so easy to pretend Luna didn’t know the details of the Camp. Almost as easy as pretending I didn’t know everything beforehand when I first arrived.

“The system that sucks. Now introduce them. I wanna know everything.” She grinned. After hitting me behind my head. That hurt. My feelings that was.

“Right…” I sighed. “The blond is Luke Castellan, the duo looking like twins are his half-brothers, Travis and Connor Stoll. The short kid with almost grey hair is also of the same line, Samuel Lucas.” At that point Samuel protested my quip at his height. “The dark-haired girl is of the magical kind, Lou Ellen Blackstone, and next to her is warmonger’s spawn Mirco Kirkland.”

“You are really naming them all without saying their parent’s name?” Luna interrupted.

“Of course.” I scoffed, making about all of my friends laugh. “Then there’s Mirco’s sister Clarisse La Rue, the victorious one Candice Williams and our resident musician Lee Fletcher.”

“Nice to meet you all. I’m Luna Cykes, this idiot’s sister.”

From there the conversation flowed on. Everything was discussed. Interests, school life, home life, knowledge on mythology… I kept tossing golden Drachmas into the rainbow every time the connection faltered. I didn’t contribute much otherwise. It was simply brilliant to see them all getting along with her.

* * *

After about half an hour of conversation there was a shout off-screen. Candice leaned back in her seat and craned her neck to see to the direction of the shout.

“It’s Chiron. He seems to be looking for us.” She explained.

“We better go then.” Lou Ellen got on her feet and dusted some snow from her skirt. “We came to the forest without a persmission after all. It was nice to meet you, Luna. See you again, Clay. Come on, Samuel.”

“Bye you too, take care.” Samuel waved and followed his sort-of-but-not-quite-girlfriend.

“Bye.” Luna waved back. And so, the demigods left in small groups probably to divert attention from the Iris Message that was still on. Eventually only Luke remained.

“Alright, Castellan, spit it out.” Luna stated outright at the son of Hermes. “Who is this girl?” She pulled the photograph literally out of her sleeve.

“She…” Luke looked away. “She used to live in my neighborhood years ago. Haven’t seen her since coming to the Camp though.”

“What’s her name?” I decided to interject before Luna lost her temper due vague answers.

“Lila. Lila Cykes.”

“Right…” Luna was glaring still so I took over.

“How did you knew to ask if this house was at New York?”

“What is this? Twenty questions?” The older kid laughed nervously.

“ ** _Yes._** ” Luna and I said.

“It looked familiar, is all. Five years ago we… Annabeth, Thalia, Grover and I used it as a safe house. Our last stop before making it to the Camp. It was abandoned and if it hadn’t been for a guide we wouldn’t have found it.”

“Guide?” Lune frowned.

“Lady of Dusk. She directed us here. Let us rest properly for the first time in a while.” The way Luke said it and looked away from us made him look quite young but so old at the same time.

“Could you… Could you tell us more about Lady of Dusk?” I asked tentatively. This was the second time I’d heard of her in such a short amount of time but I still had no idea who she was.

“Sure…” While Luke seemed relieved that the topic was off himself and his past, it was like he’d rather left the conversation completely. I wondered why…

“Lady of Dusk… That’s the name everyone uses of her. At least those who don’t know her personally. If she appears to you… Like she did to us back then… She then uses an alias. She is very fond of demigods but has none of her own despite rumours otherwise. She is an elusive one. Some say she is sleeping goddess. Only occasionally awake.”

“Does she… Does she have a knack of figuring things out beforehand?” Luna frowned.

“Yes. I suppose it’s because of the shared domain between her and her mentor Astraeus… Seeing the events to come from the stars.” The son of Hermes nodded slowly. “Can I ask a question of my own now?”

“Alright.” I shrugged. Hopefully it wouldn’t be anything bad.

“Where are your parents really?” Of course he’d ask that question. Of course…

“What do you mean?” Luna seemed ready to attack again. Honestly, her impulsiveness would get her in trouble eventually.

“That house… It’s not…” Luke stopped, searching for words. “The wards of that house are choosy of who they let in. Lady of Dusk explained that to us. No monsters, very few mortals… It is a sanctuary you can find only if you need it. It is not a place to be bought and settled in just like that.”

“…” Luna and I exchanged a glance. The light green of the telepathy stone flickered at the back of our minds when we conversed. Eventually I sighed and looked away. Meanwhile Luna faced the other demigod. Well, Luke had no idea we knew what he’d do in the future so he had no reason to suspect us of… knowing anything. What harm would it do? After a year I’d know.

“There is no parents. Just Clay and I. We take care of ourselves.” Luna told the older boy. Directly straight to the point. And the shock on Luke’s face was… genuine.


	11. In which I'm not the narrator

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New characters are introduced. Not that Clay knows anything about them. He has something more pressing to handle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, warning everyone. We have Hannah's story here. It's not pretty. It does not end happily. Contains mentioned rape, racism, and out of screen corpse mutilation.
> 
> But before that, let's have some new demigods here!

**Chapter 11: In which I’m not the narrator**

It was a palace. Its location was unknown to mortals and even demigods had hard time to deduce where it actually was. It had many entrances around the country of Finland and all of them led to different sectors of the palace. Some could argue that the palace wasn’t really a palace but a collection of houses and manors that were connected to each other by long corridors at which the time and space lost their meaning and one could cross hundreds of kilometers in mere seconds. Maybe it was true and the entrances around the country were only to the houses in those locations. After all, some of the entrances were in the middle of woods, some on top of a mountain in Lapland, some at the bottom of Baltic Sea or the Lake Saimaa.

But let’s call it a palace since from the point of view of a demigod living in there, it was like a one big house with indoor gardens and numerous rooms to stay at and meet other demigods.

At this point one might ask, of which pantheon those demigods are of? The Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians and the Norse are all situated in America these days yet it’s hinted that the palace is somewhere in Northern Europe.

The answer, my friend, is in the location. The palaces many entrances exist within the country of Finland, thus it is a safe haven to those born from the old Finnish deities or otherwise accepted into the fold.

* * *

A girl walked through the corridors, her black hair on a high ponytail bouncing in the rhythm of her steps. She barely glanced at the trees growing around her and forming the corridor in question. It was all normal for her. The floor of that particular corridor was made of grass and it would’ve been smooth against the soles of her feet if she hadn’t been wearing military boots. She was dressed in the military greens of Finnish army and had a backpack on her shoulders. It had been a long week previously and she was happy to be home once more.

Eventually the girl – young woman really – reached an opening in the forest section of the palace. It was a lush evergreen patch of forest in the model of traditional pine forests of Finland. There was a lot of light and the air was appropriately dry. In the middle of the clearing (room) was another girl. This girl was much younger than the first one, only fourteen or so. She was dressed in a simple pink hoodie and blue jeans and was playing with rabbits and squirrels gathered around her.

“Siru.” The first girl spoke. The younger one looked up, as did the animals in strange unison with the girl. And smile spread on the girl’s face and her blue eyes crinkled on happiness.

“Emilia, you’re back.” Siru said softly. Emilia, the girl in greens, nodded.

“I am. Did you have a good week?”

“I did, yes. I helped a squirrel family to find one of their food storages that they’d forgotten about. And I heard that soon is the time for new bear cubs to be born.” Siru explained with a bright smile. “How about you?”

“Tough week, but I could handle it just fine.” Emilia told the girl. “We are having a meeting soon. Could you go and see where Miisa and Sigvard are?”

“They should be with Tapio and Ägräs… Going through this year’s growth plans. Mielikki mentioned it to me yesterday.”

Emilia sighed. Of course those two were with their parents.

“Well… Try and see if they could come anyways. It’s important. I’ll get the other two.”

“Alright.” Siru nodded and gently ushered the animals back to their homes. When she left the room, a fox, with the same colored fur than her hair, slinked after her. A moment later Emilia left the room too, heading other direction, other section of the palace even.

The corridors of forest became those of granite and slate. Emilia climbed stairs to the next floor and was promptly greeted by blasting music.

“Kuisma! _Kuisma!_ ” She yelled over the noise, of the CD player deposited in the middle of the room, next to a DJ’s desk. There was a boy in his late teens, messing with the dials and buttons on the table while his head bopped in the rhythm of the rock music. Emilia gritted her teeth and then promptly dumped water upon the CD player. Water she’d drawn straight from the air. The music died down and the player began smoking. The boy whirled around and glared at the girl with electric blue eyes.

“Emilia!” Kuisma growled. “This is the third time this month. I bet not even Rainer can fix this anymore!”

“Well, if you wouldn’t be trying to bust our eardrums constantly this probably wouldn’t be a problem.” Emilia informed the boy dryly. “We have a meeting. Go get Rainer and meet everyone in the Crypt.”

Kuisma’s eyebrows arched. “You managed to drag Sigvard and Miisa from that old barn then?” He whistled low.

“Room of Cultivation and Harvest is not a barn.” Emilia corrected tiredly. This wasn’t the first time Kuisma had come up with insulting nicknames for the numerous rooms and people in the palace. “And no, I sent Siru to get them.”

“Damn, you are mean. Subjecting Siru to Tapio’s presence just so she can get his daughter away from their bonding-time. And Siru is his wife’s lovechild…” Kuisma snickered before sobering. He ran his hand through his gelled back dark hair before stuffing his hands into the pockets of his black jeans. “What news do you have then to warrant a meeting in the Crypt? I thought we wouldn’t meet there until we have full numbers.”

“The meeting is about the last two of the eight. But I won’t tell you more just yet. I rather explain it all only once.”

“C’mon, cuz. Why can’t you tell me more… I’m-…”

“I know you are the big guy’s son. It doesn’t change anything.” Emilia deadpanned. “Now, shoo… I’m heading ahead.”

* * *

The Crypt was probably the only place that in any way resembled ancient Greek architecture but that was only because it was made to resemble the Helsinki Cathedral nowadays which in turn had been built in neoclassical style back in 1852.

The Crypt was a circular room beneath all the other rooms of the manor. It looked like it was below ocean level too but one couldn’t be too sure. The light came through a dome that one couldn’t be sure of if it was translucent or not. It had eight entrances and eight windows surrounding the room in turn. They were separated by sixteen circular white marble pillars. The floor was made of colored stone and had star shape in the middle of it. The star had eight horns and each horn pointed at the entrances. And each horn was decorated to match the different designs of the door.

Emilia stepped through her door and settled to stand by the point of the star pointing at it. The decoration was of waves and storm in colors of green and blue.

Two doors to the left, Kuisma entered and stopped on the same spot than Emily. His sector of the star and door was of steely color with platinum thunderbolts.

Opposite of Emilia was Siru, with foxes, rabbits, birds and other wildlife framing her form.

The last three arrived. Miisa, a pretty girl with blond hair and pine green eyes stood between Emilia and Kuisma. Her motifs were plants of both forest and cultivation. On Emilia’s right first was Sigvard and then Rainer. The first boy had simply soil and rocks that partly were cracked by assumed heat and partly smooth as glass. He had a bit nerdy and weedy outward appearance in slacks and neat white shirt but hidden strength was hidden beneath the calm exterior. It would be seen through his earthy brown eyes. The other boy was of stockier build with a bit ragged black hoodie and faded blue jeans and a lot of metal upon his person. His long sandy-brown hair was pulled on a low ponytail and he had steel grey eyes. His symbols seemed to be plates of various metals etched together and decorated with studs.

Emilia looked at the two empty spots. They were on Siru’s both sides. One of clouds and wind currents, and the other of fire and light. She smiled then.

“My friends, I bring good news from the Lady herself.”

“Lady of Dusk spoke with you again?” Miisa gasped. “I thought she was resting once more.”

“Has something happened to disturb her slumber?” Sigvard frowned.

“Something yes, but I’m not aware of the details.” Emilia sighed. “But the reason I called this meeting was because the last two of us have finally arrived.”

She let her green eyes track every single one of the demigods. While they weren’t the only ones from their parents, they were currently the oldest and thus granted the positions as Guardians of Aihki. The last line of defense and first in offense for the gods.

Kuisma, son of Ukko, the god of thunder and lightning, titled Viuhti.

Siru, daughter of Mielikki, the goddess of forest and its dwellers, titled Rauni.

Miisa, daughter of Tapio, the god of forest, titled Tierra.

Sigvard, son of Ägräs, the god of fertility and cultivation, titled Manttere.

Rainer, son of Ilmarinen, the great smith and maker of heaven, titled Tarmo.

And Emilia, daughter of… Poseidon, adopted by Ahti, the god of the depths and giver of fish, titled Soila.

(Emilia’s story was complicated and involved avalanche, divine intervention and assimilation to new culture, Second World War and existing outside of time for decades until she aged a couple of years past the age limit of the Great Prophesy.)

“Autere and Roihu have been found?” Siru gaped.

“You’re serious!” Kuisma exclaimed.

“Where are they then? And why did it take so long for them to surface?” Rainer asked slowly. Emilia held a hand up to stall the flood of questions.

“They are currently in America. As for their origins… They are not the most convenient. According to Lady of Dusk, dimensional crossing was involved. Autere is mortal but collecting godly gems to protect herself while Roihu is currently acting as demigod son of the Greek sun god.”

“Why is it always Greek?” Kuisma scoffed. Emilia shot him a baleful glance.

“Something against the Greek?” She asked with arched brows. While she'd never met her birthfather and wholly enjoyed her life as Finnish demigod, Emilia didn't deny her roots either.

“Other than the fact that this future mess coming up is entirely part of their domain and in a sense there should be no need for us to prepare to intervene?” Kuisma scowled.

“The mere existence of all Guardians at the same time is the proof that we are going to need to act when the time comes.” Emilia argued back.

“Lady of Dusk manipulated the events for us!”

“Because she has already lived it all and knows how it will turn out!”

“Guys… Please don’t fight…” Miisa tried to placate the two. None of them moved away from the star points though.

“Do you know what they look like?” Sigvard asked then, to distract the pair.

“Glad you asked.” Emilia clapped her hands together once, dimming the light coming from the circular dome above their heads. Two quick claps and an apparition in mist shimmered into the view. It had two siblings sitting next to each other and seemed to be talking with someone out of screen. “I don’t know the names they are using in America but they are living in the safe house Lady of Dusk created some decades back.”

“They look nice.” Siru mused. “When can we meet them?”

“In a couple of years. According to Lady there is a prophesy in works in the Greek world too. Roihu has heard it and eventually they’ll come to seek our aid. But until then it’s a strict rule of non-interference.”

“About three years then…” Rainer nodded slowly. “Was this all?”

“Yes. You are all dismissed.”

Some of them remained watching the image of their future comrades while some left back to their duties.

* * *

It was mid-January. Luna had gone back to school after the holidays were over while Clay remained in New York. Currently he was in Harlem, watching a house with a white couple and a black little girl in there. The girl was crying and had a hand mark on her cheek. Feminine hand. Clay frowned. What he’d gleaned from a week of observation of the house, was horrifying.

The girl’s name was Hannah Summers. She was nine years old. Her father had died not even a month ago and soon after the funerals her step-mother’s boyfriend had moved in. The man was horrid and so was the woman. They both abused the girl and used her as free labor. Pulled her out of school to keep her locked inside the house. Because her father wasn’t there anymore to protect her. It seemed that the woman had gone after the man only because of money.

The young demigod grit his teeth as he watched Hannah to climb to the second floor and hide inside her room. On the window sill was a flower box full of flowers in full bloom despite the snow on the streets and everywhere else. Clay had occasionally talked with Hannah and found out that her father had owned a gardening company that had done quite well and apparently her mother occasionally helped with it, making it thrive.

“Aunt Demeter’s daughter then?” The golden haired boy mused. “Or someone else from her domain…”

The situation needed a bit more investigation and with regret, Clay retreated to the alleyway where Kuroto was waiting for him. The steed neighed at him.

“I know… I’ll come up with something. I promise.” The boy murmured to his friend before climbing onto his back.

* * *

Only a couple of days passed and then Clay had to act. He found Hannah in her room, her clothes ripped and her naked body bruised and bleeding. All the evidence pointed to a single fact.

“Hannah?” Clay sat on the window sill of the little girl’s room. Tear filled brown orbs turned to look at him.

“C-Clay...” Hannah whispered before dashing to hug the boy who silently dropped into the room to a crouch.

“Shh… Shh…” Clay whispered as he tried to sooth the crying girl. “I’m getting you out of here… Right now. I’m sorry I couldn’t do it earlier.”

“But papa’s garden…” Hannah protested weakly the same way she had done previously when Clay had offered to take her away.

“I’m sorry, blossom, but your safety comes first. No matter how much your father loved the garden, he loved you much more.”

“Hmm…” Hannah hummed absently, not really listening. Her eyes were teary and a bit glazed over, her thoughts running through the recent trauma.

“Hannah, I hate to ask you this but are the adults inside this house?”

“Yeah…”

“Okay, dress up and we’ll be off then.”

Hannah put on underwear, a pair of pants, a long sleeved t-shirt and a light green zip-up hoodie. She also pulled a pair of thin cotton socks to her feet but lacked shoes.

“Alright… Hold on tight then.” Clay lifted the girl on his hip and climbed out of the window and began climbing down. The pair of the disappeared to the shadows. Behind them, vines climbing the walls of the house began to grow and thicken, trapping all the doors and windows shut, leaving only the cellar window open.

* * *

In the evening when Clay got Hannah finally to fall asleep, he made his way back to the house. He slipped inside the cellar and rigged the gas heating system. Mere hours later when the woman now owning the house lit a smoke, it all went up in flames. Due the vines there was no escape for the two occupants.

Clay smirked at the screams coming from the inside.

* * *

“Where would I go now? P-Papa is dead and I have no aunties or uncles or cousins or grandparents and I’ve never even _met_ my mama and…” Hannah sobbed when they were talking while eating breakfast.

“There is a place… well, maybe two.” Clay began. “One is Camp Half-Blood. It’s for kids like us. Children of mortal and immortal. I told you about this yesterday, didn’t I?”

“That my mama is probably a goddess but can’t meet me because the King forbids it.” Hannah replied meekly, her curly black hair falling in front of her eyes. “What is the other place?”

“Well… It’s the Hunters of Artemis. I’m not sure if they’d take you as a member but you could still ask for sanctuary and being taught until you decide what to do with your life…” Clay hated to offer this option because… Hannah wasn’t virgin anymore and thus automatically wouldn’t be allowed to take the oath to join the Hunt. But she was an innocent and young girl and should still belong to Artemis’s domain. And rape was a scarring experience, especially for one so young who probably didn’t even understand it fully. But with the Hunt she would be safe from other males. It was a miracle Hannah wasn’t shying away from him considering how little time they’d known each other.

“…The Hunt has only girls?” Hannah asked with quiet voice.

“That’s right. It means I probably wouldn’t be welcomed there but Kuroto could take you there.” Clay smiled back. "And I can help you prepare for the trip."

“You would really?”

“Yes, I’ll back everything you need and Kuroto can find the route to their current camp.”

Hannah smiled widely. Clay sincerely hoped he was making the right decision.

* * *

A week passed. Clay remained home. Hannah had promised to call if she was staying with the Hunt. There was no call.

But there was a neigh. The boy looked up from the book he was reading and headed outside. Kuroto was back with Hannah. The girl was oddly quiet. She shied away from Clay’s touch and kept her distance. After some careful questions, Clay heard the story.

Apparently Hannah didn’t have a chance to meet with Artemis or even with the lieutenant Zoe Nightshade. Another Hunter had intercepted the girl and talked to her. And whatever she had said had driven Hannah in tears and back to New York. And to be scared of Clay.

“I’ll try my luck at Camp Half-Blood then.” Hannah said tearfully. “Even if there are boys too.”

Clay felt his heart chill. _Try her luck_ … What had the hunter told the girl to make her so… so downtrodden and depressed? The young demi-god swallowed hard but smiled anyways.

“Do you want me to take you there? I was thinking of returning anyways.”

“…No. I go by myself. Just give me a map.” Hannah shifted nervously, avoiding Clay’s eyes. The boy turned away too, going for a drawer which had paper and pens inside.

“Alright, just give me a moment…” The distrust stung.

* * *

Hannah was equipped with food, money, warm clothes and two knives of celestial bronze again. She refused to take Kuroto this time. She thanked Clay for his help and left then. The boy called Chiron to inform him that a new camper should arrive in couple of days and he hoped to know when so he could come to the camp too.

* * *

The call never came. Clay left to look for the girl. With the help of Kuroto, he found Hannah. Or what was left of her. A body in the ditch, stomach torn open and innards missing, but otherwise relatively unmarred. It wasn’t work of a regular monster but Clay doubted it was a simple wild animal either. He kneeled by the tiny corpse and wrapped her carefully in a green quilt he’d take with him. Maybe some sort of foresight had nudged him into packing it with him when he dreaded the worst.

“Way too light…” Clay thought when lifting Hannah on his arms and one handedly climbing on Kuroto who was nice enough to settle on the ground for easier access. “Thanks Kuroto.”

_Neigh_

“I know. Let’s get to the camp.”

* * *

Chiron was waiting for him and began speaking before noticing the bundle with him.

“Clay, there hasn’t been any sign of-…”

“I know.” Clay interrupted and slid down from the saddle. His feet hit the ground lightly, not really jostling his precious cargo. The centaur stared at the body on his arms in horror and sadness.

“Is that…?”

“Hannah Summers. Nine years old. Daughter of… Demeter. Passed away two days ago.” Clay introduced, the name of the girl’s godly parent passing through his head with a whisper of leaves of apple trees and the grinding of grain. The boy bowed his head and silently sent his thanks to the goddess.

“You never mentioned me why you sent her alone.” Chiron spoke then.

“Kheiron… Hannah wanted to come alone. She… was scared of me after meeting with one of the Hunters. I didn’t want to push it. I thought she could make it. Hannah was strong and resourceful girl. The distance wasn’t that bad. She should’ve been safe but I…” Tears began falling from the blue eyes and drop onto the quilt. “I should’ve protected her! I should have made sure she was safe! Maybe even taken her personally to the Hunter’s camp so she could personally meet with Artemis but I didn’t because I thought… I thought…”

“What did you think, Clay?” Chiron asked gently, his hands on the boy’s shoulders.

“I thought she’d be safer without me. I thought they’d accept her anyways…” The boy swallowed a sob, shifting his burden so she was cradled against him while freeing his other hand to wipe away his tears.

* * *

The funerals were on the same evening. The few year rounders from cabin four made a funeral shroud for Hannah in which she was burned. Clay remained quiet and distant for the entire procession par the few words he offered to tell about the little girl.

“She was incredibly brave despite everything. Kept going and taking care of her father’s garden.” He said without elaborating.

Weeks progressed from there and the boy fell into the routine. He occasionally called Luna and kept training. Time went on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original A/N from FFN:  
> Alright... I think I explained relatively well the Finnish deities in this chapter but I can put some additional info here. Kalevala, Finland's national epic features many of the deities and immortal heroes that I'll drop here. Searching the wikipedia page for 'Finnish deities/gods' will give you quite good explanations too even if I might twist some info to suit my needs.  
> The three Big Ones here are three brothers: Ukko, Ahti and Tapio. They respectively rule over sky, sea and forest.  
> They have wives: Akka, Vellamo and Mielikki. They are more like feminine counterparts for the gods and share the realms with them.  
> Then there are minor deities like Ägräs/Äkräs and other cultivation related spirits. Also the sons and daughters of the Big Ones. Now that I think about it I probably should've have made Siru to be daughter of Nyyrikki (god of hunt) or Tuulikki (goddess of animals). Their parents are Tapio and Mielikki. Damn my too quick decisions.  
> Ilmarinen is a hero and the smith that made the Sampo, a mythical item that sow grain, salt and gold out of nothing. In here he is made immortal.  
> The palace represents the realms of the Big Ones: Ukkola, Ahtola and Tapiola. It does not have parts for Tuonela/Manala/Pohjola which is the Finnish version of the Underworld. That is a realm ruled over by Louhi and her daughters.  
> The eight Aihkin Vartijat (Guardians of Aihki) came from my scout summer camp with such theme. The 'codenames' are mostly from the characters for what I could remember. It's been eight years already... 'Aihki' itself refers to an old pine. We in Finland got a lot of words for pine tree and bear too.
> 
> This is all... I might need to change some patrons later. Not godly parents but the patrons of the Guardians.


	12. In which life goes on... more or less

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clay is finally Claimed. Luna has projects.

**Chapter 12: In which life goes on… more or less**

** 28th February, 2005 **

I had to admit that I lost my track of time. I had thrown myself into training in the aftermath of Hannah’s death and thus neglected both my wellbeing and social relations to other campers. It wasn’t until I collapsed at the Arena in the middle of lesson and then woke up at infirmary that I… realized I’d gone too far.

“You know… Even for you that was stupid.” Was the first thing I heard upon awakening. I groaned.

“I do not want to hear that from you Clarisse…”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever…” The daughter or Ares scoffed. “You’ve been out for hours. Which begs a question… when was the last time you ate? Or slept for that matter? Your eyebags have bags.”

“…I don’t know. Is it still February?” I sighed.

“Yes. Didn’t you hear what I told you? You were out for hours, not days, hours.”

“I did… I guess I’ll go to see if there’s something at the pavilion already.” I made to get up from the infirmary cot but got pushed back to the pillows.

“Oh, no… Runt, you stay here. I’ll go inform others that you are awake and somewhat coherent. And get some food for you too.” Clarisse got up from her chair and after a glare that dared me to object (I didn’t) she exited the infirmary. I took a moment to asses my condition before heaving my torso up and against pillows so I was in half-sitting position. If Clarisse would indeed bring me food, I should be relatively upright to eat it.

“You got us worried, Clay.” A new voice spoke up. I glanced at the entrance where Luke was leaning against the door frame. Under his arm was a packet. Following my gaze, the son of Hermes glanced at the packet and then chuckled when noticed my frown. “This came some moments ago. From your sister I presume.”

“Ah, yeah… It’s… the 28th today. I’d forgotten…” I grimaced.

“Oh, is this some special day for you then?” Luke sat on the chair Clarisse had vacated and plopped the packet on my lap. I promptly began unravelling it. Frankly I was curious to see what Luna had sent for me despite having forgotten the day myself.

“You could say so… It’s my 14th birthday today.” I shrugged. It wasn’t a big deal really. Okay, yes having a birthday was nice but this was the third time I ‘celebrated’ my 14th one.

“Your birthday? Why didn’t you say anything?” Luke asked. I glanced up from the packet but continued my actions then. Damn, Luna had tied the strings too tight.

“Can you give me scissors?” I asked the older boy. Once he complied, I replied to his question. “I didn’t think it’d matter. By the end of the summer I’ll get the camp bead to mark a year alive anyways. And…”

“And?” Luke prompted me with arched eyebrows.

“The age doesn’t feel right.” I sighed, cutting the string and then the tape holding the box closed. “I’m… much older than I look. And even I’m not sure how old exactly.”

“Part of the reason why you and Luna live alone in the house of Dusk?”

My thoughts trailed to the conversation we’d had in January. “Yes. It’s complicated and to my knowledge only two people from the upstairs know the entire situation. In any case, repeating situations have made me… lose desire to celebrate my birthday.”

“Now that won’t do, Clay. Birthdays are important. And even if you don’t want to mark them especially I bet many others want to have an excuse to eat treats.”

I let out a short laugh. Kids… “Alright. Do what you want.” I waved a dismissive hand at the boy.

Luke sighed. “Clay… Maybe you should rest some more. You are not yourself.”

“I know… I’ll eat and then get some more sleep. Don’t worry about me.”

* * *

So they had a party. I spent the time at the infirmary. Lee refused to let me out and made me eat under his watchful eyes. People visited me but generally I just went through the books, CDs and games Luna had sent me. She even included a bottomless box to which I could store everything and protect them from the Hermes kids. How thoughtful.

And generally I didn’t mind other campers celebrating without me.

Now… If only Chiron wasn’t threatening to put me on self-destruction watch. It was not a suicide watch even though that had happened on the camp too but apparently I was driving myself to the ground. That might’ve been true. I couldn’t really say.

* * *

** March **

I had gotten better. It took a while but I was actually interacting with people. Luke, Candice, Lee, Clarisse, Lou Ellen, Mirco, the Stolls… I wasn’t driving myself to the ground.

Life at the camp went on. We celebrated Annabeth’s 12th birthday, got a new camper to Demeter cabin, I got finally the permission to participate Capture the Flag again… I could’ve in previous month too but I was too preoccupied with my thoughts and thus Chiron subtly extended the ban. It was probably good.

One day I was at my usual spot up at the Half-Blood Hill by Thalia’s tree, talking with Luna when.

**_Bang_ ** _, clang, clink…_

_Poof, fhssss…_

“What was that?” I asked warily at the noise at background. Luna grimaced and glanced behind herself.

“I offered one demigod to stay with me at home until he decided where to go next…” She scratched the back of her head. “He doesn’t know what he is though and I don’t dare to tell… But he’ll be safe here for a while.”

“…Who is it?” I frowned.

“Leo Valdez. He is currently fixing stuff at the storage. Nothing major, just tinkering.” My sister shrugged. “So he is a bit distracted while I call you.”

“How long do you think he’ll stay?”

“A couple of weeks? I doubt for too long…”

I nodded. It was possible. And I could guess that Luna wasn’t going to let him stay for too long anyways, lest the plot of Heroes of Olympus saga would be altered. It was important that Leo met Piper and then Jason. But if the boy was up in New York it would be difficult.

“How have you been otherwise?” I decided to ask next.

“Just fine. Preparing to fail my exams, doing some more research, working on my projects, letting Thalassa have a break… You?”

“I’m… better. Thanks for asking.”

“That’s great to hear. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you.” Luna gave a sad smile to me. I mirrored it.

“It’s alright. I’ll… I’m coping.”

“Could you tell me what exactly happened? I know it was a bit after I went back to school but…”

“No. It’s… You don’t need to worry about it. Just relax.” My smile was probably completely fake but Luna let it slide.

“I miss you, Clay. Don’t forget it. Ever. And be it hell or high water but I’ll always have your back. No matter where we are.”

“You are such a sap.” I grinned. “But yeah… Right back at you Luna. I’ll protect you with my everything.”

We bid goodbye to each other and the connection cut. I got on my feet and stretched, sniffing the air. Spring was coming.

* * *

** 25th May **

The winds were picking up again. They were stronger than they’d been for a while. Probably because the recess in between. Mirco was eagerly reading news next to Malcolm, Candice and Lou Ellen. A screen had been rolled to the amphitheater to where we’d all been gathered. Apparently Athena had figured out which place would be hit next and Hephaestus had installed some cameras there even before the notice had been sent. All demigods were thus invited to watch it.

“So… what’s the situation?” I asked when I sat next to Luke. The eighteen-year-old demigod looked up.

“Ten minutes until the announced time. The godless stone kept in that museum is called Shadow Arrow. It’s imbedded to a white gold bracelet and according to the leaflet we were given…” The blond boy gave me the slip of paper that he’d been holding. I noted many of the other demigods having similar papers. “That stone is Hades’s.”

“I see. Since the thief doesn’t have other stones from the Big Three yet, they are paying extra attention to this one, right?” I read the leaflet but in the end it didn’t shed much information. Nothing about the stone’s abilities or security measures that Thalassa the Thief would face. Only a brief description and history of the thief, the background of how the stones came to be and why the situation was to be monitored.

I looked at the screen. It was showing a lit up room full of display cases and security guards. I had to suppress my laughter. It really resembled preparation for Kaitou Kid Heist.

A counter appeared to the left upper corner of the screen. Just a few minutes left. People leaved forwards in their seats. Even Chiron did so from his wheelchair. Mr. D had gone to Olympus where the council would apparently follow the heist together.

The lights went off in the gallery. The security tensed and began looking around. Generator hurred into action as emergency lights clicked on.

And there she was, wearing knee-length Greek style dress with boots and a cape, brown curls spilling out of the hood that obscured her face along with a domino mask. There was the Great Thief Thalassa, crouching over the display case containing the obsidian stone. But she didn’t open it. Instead she jumped in the air, landed on the shoulders of one of the security guards, pushed him to the ground and jumped up again. There were twenty guards in the room and five were more or less down by the time other sprung to action. And Thalassa… she just jumped and dodged around the room, tricking them to crash and trip onto each other.

Because of the amount of people in the museum stand-by, the alarms by doors had been turned off. I had to wonder if she’d asked for Leo’s in how to disarm any additions… But then, Leo had left a month ago already.

“Is she a half-blood?” Travis frowned from somewhere on my left.

“No necessary…” Malcolm frowned but I could see from his voice that he wasn’t sure. I had to admit it too: Thalassa easily passed for half-blood. She seemed to have a preternatural skill of predicting her opponents’ moves and retaliate then. The acrobatics weren’t something that were taught at Camp Half-Blood (or Camp Jupiter for that matter) but her movements told of finely honed skill.

We all watched in awe as the guards crumbled to the ground and Thalassa made a cartwheel across a long-ish display case along a wall and then back-flipped to stand on the middle one which contained her target. Frankly it looked like she was playing overly complicated game of Floor-is-Lava.

“Did she touch the floor even once?” I asked Luke, whose eyes widened fractionally as he began mentally going through the ‘battle’.

“I don’t think so…”

On screen the woman opened the glass case and fished the bracelet with the black gem. From the shadows of her cape, she drew a bronze dagger with aquamarine in it. I blinked. I bet that was the Wave Cutter. Dagger of celestial bronze, with Triton’s godless stone in it. With skill, Thalassa removed the stone from the bracelet and tucked it and the dagger away. The silver bracelet was plopped back to its place. Then… She tilted her back and with a wide smile, she waved at the cameras.

“Oh, that smug little…” Annabeth began but was cut off by Chiron’s stern warning. Apparently the daughter of Athena didn’t appreciate the thief one-upping her mother’s security plan. I had read from the leaflet that Athena had been acting as a security consultant for the museum.

Thalassa dropped down from the display case and cheerily walked to the door which she’d apparently jammed. She opened it and simply walked out, to the dark hallway behind.

“Now that was interesting…” I mused with a smile. I could easily see why Luna had picked this date to appear as Thalassa. Today was the last day of school. The day when she’d been told to repeat a year. Even if it had been a plan, it must have stung anyways.

So she vented her frustration by beating up some security guards.

* * *

With the summer beginning, it meant that campers returned from across the continent. Demeter, Aphrodite, Hephaestus… All those cabins were filled as well as the rest. Hermes cabin was now uncomfortably tight fit. I could only be grateful that I had a bed booked from being here for the year.

In any case, I had to admit that the pace at the camp picked up with the new faces. Capture the Flag was more exciting, the training in general was more intensive when there was more people to compete with…

And frankly it was much more fun. New people to interact with and also more people to blend in with. Even if the camp was no way empty during the school months and winter, I still had felt like being put on stage.

Now though…

I was lying on my bed and listening to one of the CDs Luna had sent me on my birthday. It was one of her favorite bands. Finnish bands. _Yö_ was the name. It meant Night. And I agreed with her that the music was quite good even if it wasn’t one of my favorites. It was surprisingly calm at the cabin eleven even if I was not alone there. Most rambunctious ones were outside, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air and warmth. Some, like me, took the opportunity to take a break, rest in shade and maybe even take a nap. Samuel was doing so in the bunk above my head.

_“Hän tahtoi nimensä tähtiin, hän halusi olla kuolematon… Mutta silloin ennen tähdenlentoa, pakko kuolla on…”  
(She wanted her name to the stars, she wanted to become immortal… But then before a shooting star, one must to die…)_

I hummed to the melody. Some of the lyrics might’ve been depressive but then… It fit me perfectly. Me and my Finnish mentality. As I listened, my thoughts drifted to the blueprints Luna had shown me in April a bit after Leo had left. It was a draft of a magical arrow. Something that could destroy the very essence of immortals. It would require masterful craftsmanship, magic and just the perfect person to shoot them.

 _God Slayer_ she called them. But really they should’ve worked on any immortal being. While the rest of the camp might’ve balked at the thought of them even existing, I found them useful considering the two wars coming up in a couple of years. Kronos was rising and Gaea was stirring. We’d need all weapons available. And if Luna could devise a way to ensure neither was a threat ever afterwards… Well, who was I to stop her.

_“How would it work?” I had asked._

_“Basically it is a curse contained in the arrow. I need to research the materials a bit better but I can explain the spell that will take care of it all.” Luna had gone to a teacher mode and spread numerous diagrams in front of her. “I use the power of ‘What If’. The gods and immortals are stagnant beings and despite them going along with the time, they themselves don’t change. But we humans, we have choices and by every choice we do, the path diverges, forming a web of outcomes. Sometimes the outcomes remain same as they are degreed by the Fates, but some are more flexible. And the gods are not flexible. If hit by this arrow, even just by stabbing, they’ll experience different outcomes that could’ve have happened throughout the history. Throughout their entire existence. It is like poison to them.”_

_“So it’s like hitting stone statue with a nail and then letting the corrosion to the rest.”_

_“Yeah, except that with this it’s like numerous little nails at once. As they are already so old, they have more history to experience and affect them.”_

_“Meaning?”_

_“Meaning that if one of the younger ones was hit with this some millennia ago, they could’ve been saved if someone knew how to do it.”_

_“Okay… What about other immortal things?”_

_“Well, monsters don’t do to Tartaros but die completely.”_

The arrow was indeed a terrifying thing. And I had no intention of telling anyone about it just yet. It wasn’t even finished. Luna needed expert opinion and craft some safeguard spells. One she’d been planning would prevent immortals using the arrows. One needed mortal blood in them. But the arrows were also so powerful that a god-grade bow would be needed. Meaning that demigods could use them. And Luna if she got a right bow.

“What are you listening to?” Someone asked. I opened my eyes. Chris Rodriguez, unclaimed but I knew he was son of Hermes.

“How did you know I was awake?” I countered.

“You breathing was deep enough. Trust me, living in this cabin teaches you a thing or two.” Chris laughed.

“Oh, I know… Been here since October after all.” I grinned back and sat up. “As for music… Something from home.”

“Is it any good?” Without invitation, the boy sat at the edge of my bed. I didn’t really mind though. It happened constantly at the cabin due the lack of space.

“It’s in another language but you can give it a try.” I removed the head phones from my head and offered them to Chris. He was a nice boy even if he was going to join Luke. But currently I didn’t hold it against him, just like I didn’t judge Luke for his future actions. I didn’t delude myself into thinking I could prevent him from going dark… And I thought it better to have all the known factors in place… But I also knew that he’d repent in the end. And then forgive him.

_“Unless he does something directly against me or Luna…”_

I got up from my bed. “Arts and Crafts are soon. I’m already heading out. Return those to my backpack once you are done.” I told Chris. “I will check them for damage.”

“Yes, sir.” The boy grinned. He as generally quite easy going. A good middle ground between mischievous Stolls and… well, Luke.

* * *

It was in late June, quite near summer solstice when something interesting happened. And by interesting I mean something directly concerning me.

There was some fuzz and buzz among the campers and Chiron had been fetched. Apparently something had appeared by the tree but no one was really sure what it was. Curious, I headed up the hill with some other campers. Underneath Thalia’s tree, just sitting calmly, was…

“Kuroto!” I gasped in surprise, getting the attention of other campers. Chiron turned to look at me too. I guess out of all the campers, he didn’t expect me to call out.

“Clay? You know who this is?” The centaur asked me. I nodded.

“Yes, he is Kuroto. He’s… not exactly mine but I found him last October, gave him a name and he stuck with me since then.”

“What is he?” Annabeth frowned. I could see she was mentally going through mythological creatures but coming up blank.

“Kuroto is vetehishevonen. He is a Finnish version of a kelpie. I don’t know how he got to America but he is perfectly friendly.” I broke through the crowd and walked next to the black stallion. Kuroto neighed and I patted his muzzle. “What are you doing here, mate? I thought you’d be at the rivers…”

To my understanding when Kuroto wasn’t with me or Luna or at the house of Dusk, he wandered the country and got to know the naiads of the rivers. He was a freshwater pony after all.

“I guess that you’d like to have him stay at the camp.” Chiron offered. I looked up and smiled hesitantly.

“If it isn’t too much of a trouble.”

“Oh, we have space. And I think you mentioned practicing Yabusame once. Do you think you could show us some time?”

“Sure…” I blinked. “I just need some custom targets and arrows but yes. I’m used to Kuroto so it should go easily.”

With that the matter was decided. Chiron herded the campers back to their activities and I went then with him to get Kuroto settled by the pegasi. He looked at the winged steeds once and snorted at me. I could tell he wasn’t overly fond of them. Maybe he thought their capability to fly as a betrayal against the ocean born… I wonder what hippocampi thought of pegasi then as they were oceanic equines too.

When we left Kuroto to get acquainted with the other horses, the trainer of heroes instructed me to talk with the Hephaestus campers for the arrows. I agreed with him, naturally. Good thing that I still remembered what the arrows for the Yabusame looked like.

* * *

** 28th June **

The arrows were just right. With both Hephaestus and Apollo cabins working together with me to make them, I got half a dozen of ‘turnip-tip’ arrows. Just enough for me. Even if I was distracted by the fact that Luna was alone at home now and probably exploring the Labyrinth. Alone.

Nevertheless, I donned my kimono top and the ‘extra-sleeve’, dougi, which prevented my left sleeve from catching onto the bowstring. I wore simple pants and boots that didn’t clash too badly with my oriental style and prepared to leave then. On the way to archery range, I placed my quiver by my hip again and I climbed on Kuroto who was waiting for me at half-way point.

This was no way traditional, just a proof of my skill. Five targets were prepared instead of usual three. The distance was slightly greater too but the targets were closer to each other. I had less time to draw but trusted my new demigod reflexes to take care of it. I took a deep breath and guided Kuroto towards the ‘arena’. Demigod, nymphs and satyrs were watching. I took a deep breath and readied my first arrow. At Chiron’s mark I urged Kuroto into gallop. I drew back the string and focused on my target. Everything else disappeared.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

It was all in quick succession and I hit all the rectangular targets, splitting them in half. Kuroto slowed down. Sound rushed back. The campers were applauding and whooping in awe. I couldn’t help the smile that found its way on my face. So long and now I could finally let go of my restrictions. I could show them my true skill with bow, my yumi.

Dropping down from the saddle, I was immediately greeted by the Apollo cabin. Lee, Michael, Kayla, Austin, Victoria… Will wasn’t a camper yet but I had a feeling he’d be coming soon. And if I remembered the books correctly, there should be a lot more kids as cabin seven was second largest one. There was twelve Ares campers and ten from Aphrodite, seven from Athena… I counted only five Apollo campers. And remembered three were doing an infirmary shift after the latest bout of Capture the Flag (Athena’s group won that one) and arena fights.

“That was awesome!” Lee grinned.

“So true. How come you’re never this good during classes?” Kayla frowned playfully. “It’s like you’re missing on… purpose!?”

“You’re missing on purpose?!” Michael exclaimed. “There is no way you’re that good if you aren’t…”

A golden glimmer appear above my head, drawing gazes. I looked up too. It had an outline of a sun with bow and arrow in the middle of it. I noted with amusement that the bow had the same shape than my yumi. Maybe some of the gods crafted the symbols personally for each of their kids depending on what they had inherited. I remember Lee mentioning that he had a lyre and bow while Kayla had bow and laurels. Or maybe it was an Apollo thing since he was a god of arts.

“It’s been decided.” Chiron spoke. “Phoebus Apollo: God of music, poetry, art, oracles, archery, plague, medicine, sun, light and knowledge. Hail, Clay Gavin, son of the Sun God.”

There was no kneeling. Just hugs. I thought my ribs might crack under the combined clutch of Lee, Michael and Austin. Kayla hanging onto my neck didn’t help much either.

“It was about time!” Candice shouted from the crowd. “Honestly you…” She stalked forward and once I got untangled from my new siblings, she promptly hit me at the back of my head. “I still don’t get why you asked your father to procrastinate… Jerk.”

“Love you too, Candice…” I grinned. “And like I told you during winter solstice, I wanted to get to know people without my parent’s reputation and assumed reputation hanging against me.”

“Alright… That implies you knew for extended time.” Lee shot a mock glare at me. At least I hope it was mock glare. “Any other hidden talents mister?”

“I play piano?”

“That’s it.” Austin threw an arm on my shoulders and began dragging me towards the cabins. “We are kidnapping and interrogating you now, _brother_.”

I opened my mouth to retort but then just sighed. I just turned slightly to look at Kuroto – who I swore was laughing at me – which wasn’t easy in Austin’s tight grip. Honestly, it was like he thought I’d run.

“Kuroto, get someone to take the saddle off and give you some treats. You did good today.”

_Neigh, snort._

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up…” I grumbled. Austin laughed too. I shot a dark look at his dark skinned hand on my shoulder. I didn’t have a good angle to glare his face.

* * *

I was seated on one of the bunkbeds. My new siblings were seated around me. Even those who’d been at the infirmary and the ones who’d not immediately ran to me after my bout of showing off. There was altogether fourteen of us. Strange how I hadn’t really paid attention to them prior this. It had even taken me a while until I connected faces to the names I knew canonically.

“Hidden talents, eh?” I chuckled.

“And whatever other secrets you’ve been keeping from people and that should be shared with siblings.” Kayla smiled. I didn’t like that smile. It was a dangerous one. Luna did it constantly and then something embarrassing or otherwise annoying would happen.

“Well…” I breathed out. “Anything specific you want to ask first?”

“Was it photokinesis or pyrokinesis you used on your first ancient Greek lesson when lighting up that paper before marching out?” Lee grinned. I blinked. I’d almost forgotten about the incident.

“Oh… I… Good question. I was just pissed off and I thought it through science. You know how you can use sunlight and magnifying glass to ignite stuff? I used the same principle somehow. Concentrated on a specific spot on the paper. I think it was photokinesis though. I’ve bended light away from myself too and made… mirages…”

“Like the time you fooled people into thinking the flags were still in place but in reality had taken them both and gone to Chiron, leaving everyone else running around?” Russel smirked. He had been in that game. I shrugged.

“Yeah.”

“Anything else?” Kayla glared.

“Other than my brilliant aim with bow, with both hands, that I’ve been honing since I was eight? And the fact I’ve been practicing with piano since I was six? Nothing. Anything else for this third degree questioning?”

“Maybe you should clarify your family matter...” Lee began. “’cause there are whispers and not everyone here knows.”

I considered it. And yeah, maybe they deserved enough trust from me that I should tell them about Luna. After all about everyone of the year-rounders by knew about her but since it wasn’t active gossip the ones coming only for summer were still mostly in the dark. (and what a miracle it was that Chiron still didn’t know about her…)

“Sure. I got a sister. Mortal and clear-sighted. Her name is Luna Cykes and she is a year younger than I. She… is brilliant but alive. Upon my arriving I made some strange word choices and ended up mentioning her to Chiron in a manner that he assumed she died on the way here.”

My new sibling nodded thoughtfully.

“Don’t worry, Clay. We’re going to keep quiet about this.” Austin smiled. “I wonder when Chiron is going to find out though.”

“Maybe sometime next year? That’s when I’ve been planning on wrangling a permission from Mr. D for Luna to visit camp.”

“How?” Little Melody frowned cutely. She was currently the youngest of us cabin seven’ers.

“Hmm… Betting and bribery. That’s how I got my permission to come and go as I wish as long as I inform him or Chiron beforehand.” I tapped a finger against my bottomlip as I mused. A stray thought entered my mind and I smirked then. Grabbing a pillow from behind me with my other hand, I flung it then at Austin’s head. Others caught on immediately and the cabin-wide pillow fight commenced. It was fun. A proper stress relief. Freeing.

I needed to pack and move my belongings soon though. And take a proper look at the cabin itself.


	13. In which it has already been a year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New immortals appear. The mystery around Lady of Dusk is explained somehow.

**Chapter 13: In which it has already been a year**

** 15th August, 2005 **

The summer approached its end. It was all celebrated with bonfires and fireworks and of course with a camp bead. The bead was dark blue in color and had a golden arrow and a white silhouette of a horse painted on it.

“Seriously?” I asked Luke. The older and taller boy shrugged.

“It has been a quiet year. And your deceiving of both Chiron and Mr. D was quite impressive. The vote was unanimous.” The son of Hermes explained. I could only stare at him in disbelief but decided not to comment on it any further. What was done was done and in the end it wasn’t that big of a deal. Other than Luna getting an opportunity to tease me to the ends of earth. Not that she didn’t already do it enough…

I put the new camp necklace around my neck and leant against a stone at the beach.

“Any plans for the upcoming fall?” I asked, changing the topic. Luke shrugged again.

“Nah, aside from taking some courses online, I’ll just stay here and train. You?”

“Gonna visit my sister this week. I missed her birthday… But when she starts school again, I’ll be back.” Luna had sent me a letter filled with swear words and creative curses for that. It was quite amusing considering that she hadn’t been serious when writing it.

“She was at that school for problem kids, right? Yancy?”

“Yeah, she is repeating a grade for her own amusement. Amazing that none of the teachers caught on that she was failing purposefully…”

“Or that you two are living alone in a weird house in the middle of the woods.”

“Mist, Luke, Mist is taking care of that.” Though now that I thought about it, there probably should’ve been some sort of enquiry for adult presence. I hadn’t been able to check on Luna as Eric Cykes after all… I probably should ask her if she’d done something.

“I know, but Luna is still mortal and Mist doesn’t always exactly aid half-bloods either.” The older boy frowned. I glanced at him and the obvious dark turn his thoughts had taken. Kronos’s influence no doubt. Every time Luke mentioned or heard from someone else something negative about being demigod, something that had directly or indirectly to do with the neglect experienced from their parents, a shadow passed across his face. While Luke might’ve had negative thoughts on his own given his past and experiences, Kronos was the one amplifying them.

“I’ve heard stories.” I hummed in agreement. “I’ve also heard that it’s because some half-bloods abuse the usage of Mist and throw veils upon mortals everywhere. So it backfires on some of us as retaliation.”

“Is that so…”

“It could be just hearsay but thus I’ve heard.”

* * *

** 16th August **

“Excuse me… But what?” I stared at Luna. And the trio of immortals around her.

“We got relatives!” My sister chirped. I blinked. And blinked again. The three adults did not vanish. I turned to address them as it seemed obvious that Luna enjoyed my confusion and was not forthcoming with answers.

“My lord, ladies…” I began as I did not know their names but it was obvious from their auras that they weren’t mortals or half-bloods either. “Could you please tell me what my sister means and how did it come to… whatever it is?”

The only male of the group smiled gently. He had long straight golden blond hair and light blue eyes. He was dressed in a dove-grey suit with soft blue tie.

“My apologies, I knew young Luna was going to introduce us to you but I had no idea she’d give you no prior warning.” The man got up from the couch and approached me. With a couple of steps he was in front of me, standing straight and head tilted slightly to the left as he regarded me. “My name is Lelantos. These are my sister Leto and daughter Autere.” He indicated at the woman at the couch who had that same colored hair than… well, himself and her son Apollo which also I had inherited through Silas. Leto had opted to wear a white summer dress and a light blue thin gardigan over it.

The last woman in the other hand… She looked remarkably like Luna. But there was something else… Some other conjunction that I recognized her from.

“Lila Cykes?” I blurted out, staring at the young woman. Same light blue eyes than Lelantos and Luna had. The honey-blonde hair that wasn’t quite as bright and harsh as her father and aunt’s hair. She was wearing a lilac-colored long-sleeved t-shirt and navy-blue jeans with… tabi-socks? The pair of waraji in the entrance hall probably belonged to her then. I shook the stray thought away. All in all, she looked like a grown-up version of the girl from Luke’s photo. And actually older than what the five-year time-span between taking of the photo and the present day suggested. Well, immortals, go figure…

The younger goddess smiled from her seat in an armchair. “Exactly, it’s one of my aliases in mortal world. And considering that you two are living in my house and your sister is using the surname of that alias, I thought it only fitting to visit. Father and auntie Leto decided to tag along on the first time and…” She made a vague motion with her hand, indicating that everything just rolled on from there.

“Right…” I resisted the urge to pinch my nose and instead took a seat next to Luna who hadn’t stopped grinning at me the entire time. “You said relatives.” I stated to her. Luna nodded.

“Yes, when they came to visit me on my _birthday_ …” At the stressed word, I earned a mock-glare. “We devised a cover story. And with a bit of manipulation of Mist, the folks at school believe it too.”

So Mist was indeed in the play.

“I’m all ears.”

“Since your special situation and the fact that Clay can’t pretend to be adult all the time when needed at Luna’s school, we’re stepping in.” Lelantos began, returning to his seat. “The law doesn’t apply to this situation because Luna is mortal and you Clay aren’t son to any of us and are most of the time at the Camp Half-Blood anyways.”

“The idea is that your cover-story parents died in a car-crash which explained Luna’s abysmal grades at the end of the school year and the repetition of the grade.” Leto added then. She had a gentle disposition and slight crinkles at the corner of her eyes for smiling so much. Well, she was the Titaness of Motherhood and Demurity so it wasn’t exactly a surprise. Lelantos in the other hand was much more mysterious. Not to mention Lila. Or Autere as the titan had addressed her as…

“In consequence, we – Eric Cykes’s brother and sister – took you in. The names are Lewis and Lena Cykes.” Lelantos continued. “Autere is still Lila Cykes and looks after the orchard we have at Connecticut.”

“The oranges sell well.” Autere shrugged. “And I can covertly keep an eye on May Castellan. Hermes is a friend of mine and I owe him several favors…”

That answered a couple of questions but still left most of her purpose and general information in the dark.

“But why?” I asked. “I’m thankful for this all but I don’t understand why you would want to bother with us. We are just a demigod and a clearsighted mortal after all.”

“Oh, you are so much more.” Autere smiled. “The prophecy you heard from the Oracle is one that I have crafted from what I read from the stars.”

Right, Lady of the Dusk, shared domain with Astraios. Though…

“I’ve never heard of a goddess named Autere before. And mythology states that Lelantos only had one daughter, Aura, who was a counterpart for Artemis.” I stated, remembering what I had learnt on mythology lessons at the camp.

“That’s what they think, don’t they?” Autere smirked. “There are reasons why my titles are Sleeping Goddess and Lady of Dusk. And no mortal knows them.”

I looked her in the eye. There was something in her expression that indicated that she wanted to tell me. But all the same, there was a steel-clad resolve to take her secrets to grave. Interesting.

“Ahem.” Lelantos interrupted our staring competition. “In the future, not much of your life will change. Just occasional contact from one of us. And I think it’s more than obvious that we’d appreciate if you wouldn’t mention our real identities to the Olympians.”

‘We’d appreciate’, my ass. That was a threat and everyone in the room knew it. Though I didn’t mind it. I had no intention of tattling on the titan siblings and the elusive Lady of Dusk.

* * *

And the life went on again. Luna started new school year, Lelantos drove her to school, we said our goodbyes and I went back to camp. Armed with a box of Leto’s cookies and a basketful of Autere’s oranges which I shared with my cabinmates (ahem, siblings).

It was wonderful to be back at cabin seven and on my first day back, we had a huge pillow fight. I snatched back the top bunk I’d used during the last month of the summer season of the camp. It was wonderful to have room for myself and not fear that my possessions would be stolen. And now someone was sleeping in the bed I’d used at Hermes cabin so space had been freed there as well.

So the life went on, like I already mentioned. Luna messaged me later that she’d managed to get Perseus Jackson under her wings and was getting irritated since Grover Underwood tried to get close to Percy but couldn’t stand Luna. So it was a bit of tug-of-war between the two of them with Percy as the rope but the boy was dense enough that he probably hadn’t cottoned on it yet. It was sort of fun how Grover had stalked Luna at first because of her scent but later done one-eighty with his behavior.

Then Chiron left the camp to teach Latin at Yancy. Mister Brunner was his alias. Luna didn’t even know what his ‘first name’ was.

In September many other things happened too. Will Solace arrived to camp and was immediately claimed by Apollo. He got the bunk below mine. The kid was quite young and apparently his mother had gotten him almost to the border before saying goodbyes. That was rare.

The new kid was great at healing and passable with other Apollo talents but healing was where he truly excelled at. In the other hand when I tried to take part to healing classes, resulted only me getting banned from the infirmary. It… stung. Everyone else could do something to help there. Even Melody could seal a papercut! But I… I only could cause burns and worsen it all.

_Plague…_

There was a flip-side to every aspect of a god’s domains. There was light and there was dark. There was balance in every immortal and no one was inheritently evil. The villainous deeds were found in every god and goddess, some more high-lighted than others. I shouldn’t take it so heavily.

When Luna heard of the incident, she sent me a t-shirt. It was black, with the Camp Half-Blood logo in it on golden yellow. Tasteful.

I took wearing the t-shirt anytime possible. Especially when I was spending my time reading medical texts in the front-room of the infirmary. It was the backroom where the patients where that I was forbidden to enter. But in the end, I had decided to take the best I could get from my situation and I’d become a walking encyclopedia of medical jargon. The black t-shirt was a reminder for everyone who I was and what I could do. It was a shadow among the orange shirts of other campers.

* * *

Thalassa had announced a new heist. The target was Surf Stone. It was triangular blue sodalite that was embed into a diadem. The stone would rest on the wearer’s forehead with one tip pointing downward. The stone was Poseidon’s and would grant the user mild water control. Or alternatively enhance already existing control.

I fingered a black stone attached to my bracelet. During my visit home, Luna had given them to me. The bracelet had room for four godless stones and Shadow Arrow, the obsidian stone of Hades, was my first one. It was an interesting one and complimented me and my abilities. It could form arrows our of shadows for my use in the case I ever ran out of projectiles to use with my bow. It also could cause ‘absence of light’ and thus render things invisible just like I could when bending light away from objects. Like how I had tricked people during that one Capture the Flag game.

It was almost a year since then. Weird…

And weird how it was the stone from the Underworld that would aid me the best.

* * *

The winds were picking up. Meteorologists tried to pin it on climate change and fall storms but people at the camp and some mystics knew the truth. Snatcher Gale was on the move again and it meant that the great thief Thalassa was about to strike again. The police and security guards were trying to guard the stone at the collector’s manor but many were sure it would all be in vain. In an hour or two the stone would be gone, with the headpiece or without it. Apparently, the only reason Thalassa had removed the Shadow Arrow from its frame was because the bracelet had been fixed to the display by the security advisor (aka Athena) and thus would’ve been harder to remove.

I probably don’t even need to mention that Thalassa was indeed successful with her heist. And most likely Poseidon didn’t mind as neither the weather nor the ocean changed afterwards. Not even unnatural stillness that’d preceed greater storm.

I turned on the volume on my headphones and listened to Luna’s dubious music choices. This time PMMP, another Finnish band (a girl-duo really) and their song _Rusketusraidat_ (“Tanlines”). I could deal with it all. It was hard to believe it had been almost been a year since I entered the camp. Despite the canon story still ahead, the past year had been surprisingly busy. And I’d like to think I’d grown as a person too. At least a bit.

And I probably would continue to grow and change during the up-coming years and the war at the horizon waiting for us all. That was the nature of humans.

People were at the arena, clashing swords despite the eve darkening to dusk. I glanced at my watch. It was taking a bit too long. Lady of Dusk, Autere, was probably extending the time of dusk again. She was another mysterious figure in this world. A variable. I’d never gotten a straight answer from her about her existence in shadows… And I had a feeling that I wouldn’t for a while. The lines of the prophecy given to me were ringing in my head.

_Champions of Dusk and Dawn._

Dusk obviously referred to Autere. Dawn… was a mystery. At first Luna and I thought of Eos but that had indicated Astraeus as Dusk then. But if he wasn’t in the equation directly…

I frowned. I probably thought bother with the prophecy that much. It would be fulfilled one way or another and there was no stopping of speeding it up. That was how the Fate worked in this world.

And us mortals were just playthings for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A picture of the three immortals as I imagine them. They are all dressed in winter fashion rather than in clothes I describe in story... I blame being winter when I drew it.
> 
>  
> 
> Waraji are Japanese straw sandals. Most notable use of them is in Bleach manga where all shinigami wear those.


	14. In which I pass the mic to my sister

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luna's life: school, heists, dealings with immortals.

**Chapter 14: In which I pass the mic to my sister**

It was almost time for mid-terms. It was October after all. Luna sighed and looked up from her books. Studying was boring. Especially alone. Especially in the silence such as the one currently surrounding her in her dorm room that she didn’t need to share with anyone. While the privacy was nice, the silence was sometimes too oppressing. Very unlike the silence at home.

Luna didn’t have any proper friends at Yancy. All the girls were too immature. Either giggling airheads or annoying bullies. There weren’t many ‘nerds’ or ‘geeks’. And those that were, looked down on Luna for starting in the middle of year and then repeating the year. Boys were the same.

Frankly, the only boy she tolerated was Percy Jackson and that was more because he was the protagonist. The boy was dense, temperamental and unfortunately his ADHD didn’t help matters either. Still, Luna did her best to help him. To be like a long-suffering big sister or something.

“I should probably go and try to help him study…” Luna muttered. If only to get out of the room and silence. Even if it meant meeting with Grover too.

The satyr was annoying too. Somehow last spring Grover had been convinced that Luna was somehow evil despite her being on year above back then and having next to no interaction with him. Not to mention that the goat-boy was horrible at keeping his cover and in general was almost as immature as the others. While Luna knew that he’d grow up, it still annoyed her. But well, at least she wasn’t biased because of her foreknowledge. Right? Her feelings towards the satyr were purely from their interactions. The books only made her tolerate him more than she’d otherwise bother.

Luna got up from her bed and took a stack of papers from her table. At the school’s computer lab, she’d taken her notes of class and books and written them all by using Comic Sans font before printing out. She’d heard from somewhere that the font was easier to read for dyslectics. And with only the pertinent information and key points included, it should be helpful for Percy if he didn’t need to go through the entire books while the letters danced in his eyes. And notes like that were easier to concentrate since they were much shorter too. Perfect for ADHD demigods.

* * *

She found the boys in the library. They seemed to be studying math. After Luna helped Percy to calculate the appropriate price level for the candy he received from his mother Sally and then sold to other students, she’d been elected to be his official tutor in… everything really. Thus when she approached the table, Percy eagerly waved her to take a seat. (Grover in the other hand fought to keep his face neutral in her precense.) The son of Poseidon was adorable like a puppy. Messy black hair, green eyes with hint of blue in them, like the ocean itself, lightly tan skin even though the summer months were well over already. His wardrobe consisted only of t-shirts, jeans and hoodies in different shades of blue and grey.

“Hey, Luna, how’re your studies going?” The boy asked with a grin.

“Quite well, all things considered.” Luna smiled back. “What about you?”

“Alright, I guess.” Percy shrugged. “Math is easier since the numbers don’t move around the page.”

“And verbal exercises?” The girl grinned. The demigod thunked his head against the table.

“Don’t remind me…” He groaned. “I barely understand what they want me to count… And when I do I need to figure out how to do it…”

“But once you have all the numbers in place, it’s easy, right?”

“Yeah…”

While Percy was occasionally dense, he was still reasonably smart sometimes. If his dyslexia and ADHD weren’t hindering him, he’d be doing quite well in his studies. Luna had seen in many times. But the biggest problem with the schools Percy had attended thus far was that they dismissed him completely. He was pinned as a troublemaker and thus deprived of help. Despite his… ailments, the school didn’t offer any extra help or tutoring. Mr. Brunner was the only teacher who even tried to make the lessons easier to understand for Percy too but he didn’t have any extra time to offer extra lessons because he still needed to keep tabs on Camp Half-Blood and mythological activity in general.

So Luna was basically Percy’s only hope.

“I brought you some notes.” The girl offered after a moment of silence. Percy lifted his head up.

“Notes?”

“Don’t you think we’ve got enough papers here already?” Grover muttered. “Besides, you failed your last year, what makes you think your notes are any good?”

“Because I know how to deal with short attention span.” Luna stated flatly and laid the papers in front of Percy. “And I used a different font for this that should be easier to read. Only most important things are included but they should help you get through the exams.”

“Thank you, Lune!” Percy smiled and began flipping through the papers. “These are great!”

“Good to hear. I’m willing to make notes like that for you for our finals and other mid-terms too, but after that you’re on your own. I’ll be changing schools once this year is over.” She leaned her forearms against the table and leant forward. “And ‘Lune’?”

“You needed a nick-name. And you have hummed this song many times while we were studying. I asked mom what song it was and she told me it was _Clair de Lune_.” The boy explained. “Is that okay?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. Thanks.”

“What do you mean you know how to deal with short attention span? You’re not–…” Grover began but Luna cut him off.

“I’ve got ADD.” The girl glared. “It’s not bad and I’ve never needed an official diagnosis, but it still has affected my studying.”

“ADD?” Percy repeated.

“Like ADHD but without the H.” The older girl deadpanned.

“I know that!”

“Then why did you ask?”

“Because!”

“That isn’t a good answer. Now do you want my help with cramming, or not?”

“Is that a threat?”

“Not really, no.”

“…Please help me.”

“There you go. Good boy.”

“I’m not a dog!”

“Oh… I must’ve been mistaken then. With your puppy eyes and all…”

“Ugh… You are the worst…"

* * *

To the astonishment of all the teachers, Luna scored full points in all of her exams. When she was accused of cheating (naturally), she simply dared them to prove her wrong. Thus she was subjected to body search performed by a female teacher and then had to do an extra test with miscannelous questions from various subjects.

She scored full points from that one too.

“My parents _died_ last spring. _Of course_ I didn’t bother with the exams.” Luna explained in indignation, grabbing onto the excuse devised by her new 'relatives'. “And I got separated my brother last autumn so I didn’t really have motivation to do anything back then. We’ve _never_ been apart before.”

And that was that.

Really. The teachers accepted that she was doing well now and didn’t bother with the matter anymore.

Idiots.

* * *

After exams, when Halloween was approaching, Luna was planning another heist. Only this time she wouldn’t be alone. And so on the 25th of October, she strode to the heist location through the front doors with her companion.

“Ruby Jones, pleasure to meet you.” Thalassa shook hands with the museum’s superintendent. She was dressed as an insurance company’s representative. Just like the Ruby Jones aka Chat Noir from Magic Kaito manga.

“A pleasure indeed. Though I’m not sure why you need to be here.”

“Well, thus far Thalassa has gotten away on every single heist. And all the artifacts have been insured for quite large sums including this one. While no obvious connection between the artifacts has been found… Our company still wants to ensure that no foul play is going on at the background from the direction of the museum. Thus a fresh and unbiased pair of eyes.”

“And your companion?” The superintendent side-eyed the young man next to Thalassa.

“Lucas? He is a high school student and getting to know our line of work. Since this is such a special occasion, I decided to take him.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Grande.” ‘Lucas’ bowed shallowly.

“I trust this is no problem.” Thalassa arched her brows and straightened her glasses.

“Of course not. Please, do look around. Just don’t disturb the guards.” And the man, Grande, left.

“He backed off quickly.” Luke remarked.

“Clay found some inconsistences with the superintendent’s finances. I suspect there has been some insurance frauds going on well before this heist. Thus my presence is expected by unpleasant.” Thalassa muttered and led the boy around the display hall. Because of supernatural aid, many of her plans were made in the fly. But sometimes she did do some proper ground work too. Like in this case.

“Is it just me but is that security guard glancing at our direction more than is normal?”

Thalassa scanned the guards and let her eyes stop at one of them. He was guarding one of the doors of the hall and thus blocking that exit. He was of average height and built. Unremarkable face, slightly curly hair… But the eyes.

“I think you just found out greatest adversary…” She murmured, smile spreading on her red painted lips but hidden behind her gloved hand. “Look around, especially at the display case. Meanwhile, I think I’ll ask him a bit of security details. Discreetly of course.”

“Sure.” Luke nodded and wandered off. Luna took a breath and steeled herself to the mindset of Thalassa once again before approaching the security guard.

 _Clack, clack_ said her heeled boots. Once close enough the guard looked up at her.

“Evening, good sir. Mind answering a couple of my questions?”

“I don’t see why not ma’am.” The guard nodded. He glanced at the tag pinned on the lapel of her jacket. “Insurance?”

“Yes. I’m sure you’ve heard how much some of my colleagues have had to pay for the stolen artifacts taken by this same thief. We don’t wish the same happening here.” Thalassa replied. “Ruby Jones.”

“I understand. Marcus Harold.”

They shook hands.

“How long have you worked here, Mr. Harold?”

“A coupl’a years. Usually I’m in the camera room though.”

“But you know the floorplan well enough that the director decided to have you here and put someone else to watch the cameras?”

“Some college kid studying data handling or something.”

Meaning that Clay had succeeded and the temporary charm Luna had crafted for him was holding.

“But the ground team is old and trusted staff, correct?”

“Exactly.”

“Has the superintendent, Mr. Grande behaved suspiciously at all?”

“Not that I know of. Dedicated time for the security measures. Tried to be creative like the advisor chick who was helping with the black stone in that bracelet.”

Thalassa resisted the urge to snort. No one could match Athena when it came to wits. Unless of course they were overcome through creativity and outside the box.

“I suppose you can’t divulge me any details about the security measures taken then?”

“Sorry, but no. Only the team working on them knows. I only have to keep my eyes peeled.”

“Understood. I won’t be taking any of your time then, Mr. Harold.”

“Have a good evening, Miss Jones.”

“Oh, it certainly will be interesting one.”

* * *

Thalassa met with Luke again.

“Anything?”

“I should be able to open the lock effectively. With Clay ready for blackout and you distracting the guards, it should be easy.” Luke muttered back. “Thanks for distracting the guard.”

“No problem. He might’ve recognized you despite your disguise though…”

“What do you mean?”

“The entire time I was asking questions, he never questioned your presence. This is amusing him more than anything else.” Thalassa bit onto her fingernail, also painted red.

“… You don’t mean-?!”

“That’s exactly what I mean. Please keep your cool and don’t use your bypass ability.”

“Roger that.”

The target of the night, Wings of Wind was a silvery grey stone which was the central part of a silver necklace studded with small diamonds. The frame itself also had wings made of silver which was rest against the wearer’s collarbones. Surprisingly elegant. And it wasn’t too much of a stretch to figure out that it was Hermes’s stone.

With the messenger himself disguised as a guard in the same room than Thalassa and Luke.

This was going to be interesting.

* * *

The lights went out. And Thalassa appeared in her trademark costume on the balcony running around the room well above everyone’s heads. A spotlight pointed at her and she thanked her forward thinking was making sure that while the mask showed only black through the eyeholes, it would also act as a pair of sunglasses simultaneously.

“Why hello everyone…” She purred, effectively drawing attention away from the display case in the dark and Luke who was working on opening it. Clay had already disabled all electricity in the security systems and otherwise. Frankly, the only workable source of light was the spotlight on her.

“Thief!”

“Catch her!”

Some guards were scrambling towards her. That’s right, there had been some positioned at the balcony too. Thalassa glanced at the display. Thankfully the mask covered her eye movements thus keep it secret as to where she was looking at.

Luke was ready. The necklace was tucked into safety and the display case was closed again. The boy was back in his place closer to doors.

“Not so fast, filles un garcons…” She grinned and _leaped_.

The spotlight was too slow. It only reached her when she was already landed, with her dress and cape covering the display and thus obscuring the absence of the treasure.

“Why thank you.” Thalassa lifted her head and offered a wide smile before dropping a smoke bomb.

When the smoke was gone, the light only pointed at the empty case and Thalassa was back next to Luke in her Ruby Jones get-up. Beauty of Love was so useful tool for this.

“Find her!” Mr. Grande roared and the guards scrambled to answer to the command. In the chaos, the two thieves (and their accomplice from the camera station) disappeared to the night.

After the night of excitement, the trio slipped back to normality then. Luke and Clay back to camp and Luna back to her dorm at Yancy. It had been quite fruitful night.

* * *

Halloween. Candy, ghosts, lore and commercialism mixed. Traditions old and new.

Some students were stuffing their faces with candy. Some were gathered in the auditorium to watch horror movies. Some were ripping the decorations apart.

Luna was in her room, prying the newest godless stone apart from the silver frame in order to find out the sequences that made up its power and then try to replicate them. She wanted to enhance her shoes even more. In a way that she could control the speed she was going and adjust it to her need. She was already working on natural speed and had taken running laps around the school perimeter when she had time. With good music on the background, it wasn’t a task or anything.

_Ching-scrape_

And it came off.

Maybe she could try testing it on her own first though.

Luna put on her special shoes and made her way out of the school. She left a note in her room in the case Percy or one of the teachers came looking for her but she doubted that would happen.

Now though… Now she wanted to fly.

* * *

Luna was practically flying when she run through the crowds of people and leaped from building to building whenever she gained higher ground. Sometimes she took a bigger leap and enjoyed the moment of weightlessness before gravity took hold of her again.

No one looked up. No one saw a preteen girl in the air.

No one but one. And Luna didn’t notice him until she was neatly caught into his arms from her latest freefall.

“Whops… That was a tad too dangerous for a mortal like you.” The voice of her… savior(?) said. Luna frowned and looked up at his face.

“I could’ve handled it.” The response came automatically. Then she registered the face she was looking at. Mischievous eyes, salt-and-pepper hair… She discreetly took in the man’s attire and the fact one moment he stood in the air and the next on top a skyscraper. “Though it is also possible the angle and height was a bit too wrong.”

“Just a smidge.” The man chuckled. “Nice shoes.” He said then, indicating the pair of wings painted by the heel of them.

“Thanks. The same to you.” Luna nodded at his shoes when she was let on the ground stand on her own.

“You know… when I noticed the power of my stone being spread around New York, I didn’t imagine catching a little girl using it.” He said nonchalantly.

Luna wanted to say that she wasn’t a little girl. She was seventeen and more. Eighteen maybe since she’d lived a year in this world too. But she bit her tongue. Outwardly she was thirteen and compared to the immortals of this world, she was an infant even with her actual age.

“But I have to say your plan of acquiring it was impressive even if I don’t approve Luke’s involvement in it.”

“The God of Thieves doesn’t approve thievery?” Luna asked with arched eyebrows. Because that was too good to pass up.

“I don’t approve him leaving the camp without permission.” Hermes corrected her. Luna remained quiet but nodded anyways.

“How are you sure that I was the one stealing the stone then? I could’ve gotten it from… sources.” She decided to ask instead. The god chuckled.

“I put a tracker in it. Just enough to tell how many hands it went through after exiting the museum. Three. Two boys and a girl. You.”

Luna huffed. Effing immortals and their cheat tricks. And apparently Hermes read that thought right out of her mind if the new chuckle was of any indication.

“Out of curiosity though, how many stones do you have?” Hermes asked.

Luna just slipped her fingers underneath her hoodie that hung to her hips and thus obscured her belt containing the stones. She loosened the strings holding her belt together (her jeans stayed up even without it, she was a girl after all) and pulled the belt free through the loops of her jeans. Five stones were adorning it. Green, clear, pink, light green and blue.

“But that’s not all of them.” Hermes said, his arms crossed but humor sparking in his eyes. Luna shook her head.

“I’ve got… three more and one I’ve given to my brother.” Luna explained while threading the belt back to its place.

“That makes it ten altogether. Not a bad loot.”

“…I don’t know if that’s a compliment of not.” She frowned. Hermes laughed.

“It is one.”

“Thank you then.”

“Wanna race?”

“What? Really?”

“Yes, really. No teleporting. I’ll take it easy.”

“I feel like I should protest the kiddy-gloves I can’t really afford to. Where to?”

“Statue of Liberty.”

“Deal.”

Two wisps of wind were left behind then the two of them took off.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A picture of Ruby Jones from Magic Kaito. Personally I imagine her to have a bit darker skin but... oh well. I didn't make anime-color palettes.
> 
> Current Godless stones loot is:  
> \- Hecate's Eye: green idocrase, with Luna (in the belt or vambrace)  
> \- Lady Sky: Lapis Lazuli, with Luna (ring)  
> \- Clear Thought, clear quartz, with Luna (in the belt or vambrace)  
> \- Hestia's Hearth, amber, at home  
> \- Beauty of Love, rose quartz, with Luna (in the mask or belt)  
> \- Pathway of Spring, jade, with Luna (in the belt)  
> \- Wave Cutter, aquamarine, with Luna (dagger)   
> \- Shadow Arrow, obsidian, with Clay (in the bracelet)  
> \- Surf Stone, blue sodalite, with Luna (in the belt)  
> \- Wings of wind, grey star sapphire, with Luna (in the vambrace)


	15. In which my sister is hoarding the mic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luna meets Hephaestus.

**Chapter 15: In which my sister is hoarding the mic**

** 12th November, 2005 **

It had been a miscalculation. Luna had been aiming for a new godless stone and been almost caught. She should’ve expected it really. Her target was a rainbow moonstone called Lunar Guard, obviously belonging to Artemis. So she should’ve expected Athena making a security plan and a trap for her. Anything for a favorite sibling.

Luna did get the stone. But in order to escape, she had to use the Labyrinth. It was no failsafe in the case any of the goddesses decided to follow her but at least she could escape mortals. Luna was reluctantly impressed. It appeared that Athena had learnt from last time and been able to predict the girl’s actions this time.

But Luna did succeed and as soon as she was in the safety of Labyrinth’s corridors, she had Beauty of Love change her appearance and clothing something sturdier: cargo pants, military boots and a denim jacket over light green t-shirt. Her hair became frizzy brick red mess that was pulled on a high tail. A smatter of freckles beneath olive green eyes adorned her pale skin. Luna really loved how handy it was for disguises. She didn’t dare to use Pathway of Spring just yet. Not until she was in a place shielded from godly surveillance. There were some areas like that Luna had found during her exploration trips and that Clear Thought helped her to find again.

There was a crash on a side corridor and more followed. Luna doubted that whatever was there, would follow her since generally monsters stayed on their designated areas as they couldn’t afford to get lost in the Labyrinth. If they found an entrance that is.

But there were always exceptions to the rule. Like this one. A Colchis Bull. Just her luck. The bull noticed her and charged after her. Luna clenched her fist. There were too many thoughts running through her head to concentrate properly on anything.

 **One:** She still wasn’t sure if there was someone after her from her heist. Thus, she couldn’t risk using the Pathway.

 **Two:** While being mortal meant that she generally didn’t have a scent for the monsters to fixate on, it meant that she was entirely reliant on her godless stones and much more vulnerable.

 **Three:** She had been spending time with Percy, a son of Poseidon with very potent scent (though hidden by Gabe Ugliano’s stench), and had Clay, a sort-of-son of Apollo, as a brother, so there was still a chance of monsters catching onto her trail.

 **Four:** She had completely lost her destination while distracted by that bull and thus had no idea where she was running to.

Things weren’t so good. While Luna was Clear-Sighted and had Clear Thought to help her too, they didn’t matter if you didn’t have destination in mind. Cheats work only if you know what you are cheating for.

Luna rounded the corner and closed her eyes for a moment. Thankfully she was swifter when turning but the bull still had four legs and was made out of Celestial Bronze. Still, she gained some extra seconds out of and used those to gather her thoughts and concentrate on her disguise. While outwardly it seemed that she’d been wearing boots, first knee high ones in her Thalassa attire and then the military ones she had now, in reality she had her wing-shoes. And she also had Wings of Wind on her gauntlet. She unraveled the disguise just enough to let those two show and whispered the code word for her shoes:

 _“Ikou!”_ It was Japanese and meant simply: Let’s go!

Luna sprung upwards and let the bull charge from beneath her. Her feet touched the wall and she began running to the opposite direction until her momentum ended and the gravity forced her to return to the floor. She was still in the middle of figuring out how Wings of Wind actually worked.

There was galloping steps behind Luna. The bull had managed to turn and was chasing her again. Luna needed a plan. And quickly!

Lady Sky was on her right middle finger already. Her left hand was clutching onto the brooch that she’d acquired not even an hour ago. Now was admittedly the most optimal time to use Moon Guard…

Luna skidded to stop and twisted her body around, bringing the rainbow moonstone before her and _twisted_ the power within. Shimmery, almost metallic but still translucent shield opened gracefully like a fan between her and the bull. The bovine crashed onto the shield, the metal plates grinding together. The still green eyes narrowed as the thirteen-year-old girl raised her right hand and Hecate’s Eye glowed deep green. She twisted again while the bull was reorienting itself, snapping the shield closed and then blasting a soccer ball worth of green energy at the joints of the bull. The bull slid sideways and bit, it’s hoofs digging onto the floor. Some of its metal plates seemed clunky now but it was no way defeated. The bull raised its head and breathed out burning hot smoke. It had quite the acrid smell. Luna let out a cough. That had the bull charging her again.

Luna sprung the shield again, barely in time. The girl then proceeded to attach the brooch onto her shirt in order to free her left hand as she summoned Lady Sky. The bull was limping now as it kept ramming against the shield. The plates clattered from the places that they’d come loose. Luna gripped her sword in her both hands and swallowed dryly. She was going through Ares’s lessons in her mind. While she had progressed well during the past year that she’d gotten the lessons on swordsmanship and close combat in general, the God of War had been her only opponent. Clay didn’t really count as the boy didn’t want to go all out against her. But this was a bull made of Celestial Bronze. Something not so easily defeated. It wouldn’t even turn into dust once killed.

The bull broke through the shield. Luna’s eyes widened but she thrusted her sword forwards to stab it between the plates. She had wide and steady stance but she didn’t fight when the bull’s greater strength pushed her backwards. As long as the bull remained at an arm’s length away and didn’t push her against a wall…

Luna’s right foot hit wall and the girl cursed. She thought quickly and planted her left foot to the wall too from where it had been in front of her. Then…

“Ikuyo…” (Here we go…) She let go of Lady Sky and pushed herself upwards and over the bull which in turn crashed through the… door?

“What?” Luna blinked and looked into the room that the clunky bull stumbled to. It looked like some sort of workshop…

Shit.

* * *

Hephaestus heard the door of his workshop open with a mighty crash. What followed was sound of metallic clinking of various volumes and pitches. Quite unpleasant sound. Something needed maintenance.

The forge god looked up from his blueprints and took in the sight of one of his bull’s in considerable disrepair and with a sword sunk hilt-deep into the bronze bovine’s chest cavity.

“Hmm…” With two long but limping strides, Hephaestus reached the bull and lifted it up by the neck in order to examine it better. It wasn’t unsalvageable per say but one could always build it into something better.

There was a surprised gasp at the door and the god turned to glance at the source of it. A girl. Mortal girl but with traces of several gods swirling around her. Hephaestus’s eyes fell onto the forearm guard the girl wore on her right arm. It was adorned by several precious stones and so was her belt. Godless Stones. So this slip of a girl was the thief that Athena had failed to catch twice in running. The girl was shaky and still high in adrenaline probably both from her heist and being chased by his bull. Her disguise – which was powered by his wife’s stone – was slipping, red giving space for blonde and green for blue.

“You may come in, girl.” The god rumbled.

“Thank you, Lord Hefaistos.” The girl bowed shortly before stepping into the workshop. Her accent when saying his name was hard to place but Hephaestus was sure he’d heard it sometime in the past century or two.

The bull let out a billow of smoke and the god frowned at the smell. The sword had managed to hit something problematic on the inside. Most likely punctured the oil tank and jammed the mixer system.

Behind him the girl looked around the workshop, taking the unfinished projects, raw materials and tools scattered around. Curious but respectful. Hephaestus dragged the bull to one of the benches that didn’t have currently anything of importance going on and after waving it empty, placed the bull on top of it. Then, he pulled the sword free from between the bronze plates and offered it to the girl. She looked up at him in surprise but with a tiny nod accepted her sword which turned into a silver ring adorned by a lapis lazuli. Lady Sky then.

“You can take off your disguise here. I don’t care whether or not you collect those stones as long as you keep your thieving out of here.” The god grunted.

“Understood.” The girl nodded and her disguise melted off, the very faint traces of Aphrodite concentrating on the pink stone on the forehead of her white mask before disappearing. She slowly lifted her hands to extract the mask and move it on top of her head.

Hephaestus snorted. So much for Athena’s theory of the thief being incapable of using the power of the stones.

* * *

Luna watched Hephaestus start dismantling the Colchis bull and sat herself on a stool out of the way of the tables and tools. It wouldn’t do any good to be in the way.

It was quite interesting to watching the god working. He was very efficient in a manner that almost seemed careless but in reality, relied on instinct and experience. Hephaestus sometimes stopped to inspect the pieces so see the exact damage done to them be setting them aside, sorted in piles depending on damage or usability otherwise. Or something.

As she watched, Luna’s thoughts drifted to her own project. The arrows she’d spoken about to Clay in May. She hadn’t progressed much with it. Mostly due lack of materials needed to craft even the prototypes… And really, she needed to come up with some better name for them than God Slayer…

“It is quite the pretentious name regardless of matching with the purpose they are intended for.” Hephaestus rumbled, startling Luna from her thoughts.

“Ah… yes…” Had she spoken aloud or…

“Your thoughts were quite loud.”

“My apologies.” Luna ducked her head and when she looked up again, she saw the god giving her an amused glance, the bull in pieces behind him.

“Think nothing of it. It seems quite the interesting project but I’d recommend to watch your thoughts around others. They might not find its scientific value and usefulness more important than the possible threat it presents.”

That was… true. Luna sighed. She really needed to reconsider actually making them regardless of their usefulness in the future.

The god was assessing the girl with a contemplative look.

“Why don’t you bring your notes of those arrows here and we’ll see what we can do about them?”

“What…” The girl blinked. Had she heard right? “Really? We could… we could actually make them?”

“Provided that proper safeguards and precautions are taken in regards of them, yes.” Hephaestus nodded.

“Thank you.” Luna breathed but then her watch beeped. She needed to get going. Before her absence was noticed at Yancy. While she might’ve picked Friday night for her heist in the case she’d need the Labyrinth, she didn’t have too much time in her hands until the school staff would notice she wasn’t in her room. Her watch was informing her that 12 hours had already passed outside the Labyrinth. Two of those Luna had spent at Hephaestus’s forge while the others had run past when she’d been running and fighting. “Ah, I have to go now.”

“Until we see again.” The forge god rumbled. Luna smiled and jumped down from the stool. She bowed deep.

“Thank you for your hospitality, Lord Hefaistos.”

And with a twirl of green, she was gone.

* * *

Luna removed her belt and mask and placed them into a small chest by the fireplace before turning around and going to her room to change clothes and leave majority of her tools. The digital alarm clock showed that it was almost lunchtime. She needed to hurry before Percy would worry. Screw teachers but she didn’t want Percy to worry or either Grover or Chiron to be suspicious of her.

With only Pathway, Lady Sky and Wings of Wind with her, Luna teleported back to her dorm room and from there made her way to cafeteria.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is... Maybe third last chapter before this prelude fic is finished. In the next chapter Clay will be the narrator once more and we get to have Christmas. A proper Christmas chapter with the events of Winter Solstice mentioned too. After that an aftermath chapter with Alecto, freaky weather etc. Plus Clay's fifteenth birthday.
> 
> And also, this is the last chapter currently published at FFN so... no more daily updates. We shall see when I'll continue this fic.


	16. In which plot happens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh hey, we go Sally as narrator now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whops, my hand slipped.

**Chapter 16: In which plot finally happens**

** 21st December, 2005 **

Though actual plot events happened on 22nd of December, it no way meant that the preceding days were void of action and attention. I sighed as I continued packing my things in preparation of both the trip to Olympus as well as spending the Christmas with Luna and rest of our ‘family’. Kami, it was still weird to think those titans as part of my family.

I hadn’t seen Lelantos, Leto and Autere since that introductory meeting. Probably good. I couldn’t really make my mind about them. They were immortals after all. And while their offer to pose as family was generous, it was still… I was worried about possible strings attached to the offer.

In any case… Just last week Luna had announced that she’d managed to craft first God Slayer arrow. It apparently required some specialized materials and spells to be crafted but she’d succeeded with Hephaestus’s help. I was proud of her. Darn worried, but very proud anyways.

And then there was the latest heist by Thalassa. Just last night. One would think that with me stuck at Camp, Luna would need to be home helping with Christmas preparations instead of stealing more stones. But apparently, she’d gotten Sally Jackson’s help aside from Leto’s and while pretending to go to store, she’d gone and stolen yet another gem. This time a red gold ring with a golden beryl in it. Lightbringer, Apollo’s stone. Luna and promised that one to me for obvious reasons. Personally, I wished she’d take a break from stealing stones for now. She’d lately pulled a heist per month. It was not healthy even if school work was easy for her. Frankly, only thing she was getting trouble was coming to class late, after everyone else had recited the Pledge of Allegiance. But as that happened every day, teachers had stopped getting to her case about it. Apparently, it was more trouble than worth to deal with her.

And yes, like mentioned, Luna had invited Sally and Percy to spend Christmas with her and the titans so they wouldn’t need to be stuck with Sally’s husband Gabe Ugliano. I did not know when she’d managed get to know Sally but good for them.

“Clay, you ready?” Will asked behind me. I zipped up my bag closed and dropped it on my bed. It was time to leave.

“Yeah.”

* * *

 

Olympus… surprise, surprise, was the same than last year. Down to the stalls and their merchandise. Other demigods were awed and starstruck but I… Frankly, I was mostly bored. I wasn’t even entirely sure why I’d decided to come to this trip instead of leaving early for holidays. But Luna had insisted, with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. I dreaded to know what she’d planned and opted to simply ignore it for now. I looked away from the sights and gave a cursory glance at the other campers on the trip. Clarisse, Annabeth, Luke… Samuel, Lee, Will, Silena, the Stolls… and some others who had remained at the camp once more.

The visit itself was much the same as well. We introduced ourselves to the gods. We sat down to listen to the useless debate about the exact same topics as last time. And suffer through arguments with the exact same insults as last time.

Including Thalassa since she’d collected five stones more, upping the amount of known stones in her possession to eight. I glanced at my bracelet hidden underneath my jacket sleeve. It was currently housing Hades’s stone. I quickly looked away though, not wanting to draw anyone’s attention to it, catching Luke’s eyes instead. The to-be Lighting Thief rolled his eyes at the debate and I couldn’t help but quirk a smile before letting my gaze wander again.

Eventually the council drew to end, the debates and arguments ceased for a moment and the group was about to be broken in order to spend some limited time with the gods once more…

Wind blew into the room.

It was just like last time.

But this time…

I heard her. Actually, everyone heard her laughing joyfully. But then there was a burst of green and there was a pair of arms wrapping around me from behind and a chin pressing against the crown on my head. Luna, using Aphrodite’s stone, was in her Thalassa outfit and thus adding to her height with adult form and some heels, fitting me comfortably against her.

“Did you miss me, little brother?” She asked aloud, deliberately.

“A bit.” I admitted. But one thing I wouldn’t admit was how nice it felt being held like this. It had been sixteen years or something from the last time. Back when we were in our original world and I was twelve for the first time and she was sixteen.

“WHO ARE YOU TO TRESSPASS HERE?!” Zeus’s voice boomed and entire room burst into a flurry of action. Some gods seemed to summon weapons (Athena, Artemis, Ares) while some simply left (Hera, Demeter). Demigods simply stared at the thief dumbfounded. After all they’d only heard of her via news and seen that one heist via screen.

“I’m simply picking up my brother so we can celebrate Christmas together.” Luna stated idly, arms tightening around me minutely. I noted that she was wearing her vambrace openly now, with Hecate’s Eye, Moon Guard and Pathway of Spring on it. Lady Sky was on her finger as well. And I’d bet she had the rest of her stones on her belt, including Wave Cutter. “And delivering a present to him.”

She tugged at my’s sleeve, exposing the bracelet with its obsidian stone – drawing shocked breaths from some of the audience – and then inserting the beryl next to it. I was glad for her keeping her promise but wished she’d resorted to less drama and showmanship. And preferably left my involvement out. Even if at least Hermes and possibly Apollo and Hephaestus already knew.

“There.” I couldn’t see her face but her smile was unmistakable in her voice.

“Tsuki…” I whined, lapsing to her previous name since not really knowing what else to call her right now. Thalassa was a title and cover name and wouldn’t convey our closeness as that’s how she was playing this situation. Her current name I refused to use as Chiron was present and could maybe connect it to Luna Cykes at school. So Tsuki it was.

There was smell of ozone and crackle of lighting in the air. Luna looked up.

“Keep that sparkler in check, Lord of Sky, lest it wreaks havoc and destruction out of your sight.” She said in calm voice. It wasn’t a threat though, just an idle remark. Moon Guard was shining, ready to shield us just in case but I was not sure if that’d be enough either. “Come on, Clay. Percival and Sandra are waiting.”

Snazzy cover names.

“Merry Christmas, I guess.” I shrugged and smiled at the campers. “See you after new year’s.”

And Luna whisked us away.

* * *

 

** Still on Olympus **

There was a pandemonium in the hall. Zeus was demanding answers from everyone present. Campers were being herded out of the hall by Chiron and Hestia.

Then…

“Could any of us sense the stones in this room?” Athena asked. “All five stones she’s stolen in this year are all from us. Not to mention my stone from last year.”

There were negative murmurs from other gathered gods remaining in the room.

“I could.” Hades spoke up. “Before she showed up, I could sense my stone in this room. I could not pinpoint its location thought and thus opted to observe the situation.”

“So as long as your stone was the only one present, it was detectable?” Artemis asked.

“I suppose so. Once the girl appeared, it was gone and only after she revealed the boy in possession of it, I found out why.”

“ _’One stone can be tracked soon. Two stones interfereth. Thrice them and thou aren’t seen. Dividing hidest one best’_.” Hephaestus recited while fiddling with spare parts, creating something like a toy boat… that would fly.

“That’s from Astraeus’s texts.” Apollo noted.

“When the girl came quite literally crashing to my workshop from the Labyrinth last month, I decided to see if there were any sources talking about the stones.” The smith replied.

“Last month? When Moon Guard was taken?” Athena asked sharply. “The thief escaped to Labyrinth then.”

“I suppose so.”

“So that means as long as there are more than two stones in one place, especially divided between two people, they can’t be tracked down.” Poseidon mused.

“That does not count the fact that she has been trespassing, straight through the wards of Olympus! She is a thief and possibly mortal even!” Zeus blustered.

“Ah, that’d probably be another one of her stones.” Hades stated. “The light green one. It flashed before they left.”

Athena pursed her lips. “I think I know that one. Pathway of Spring. Persephone’s stone.” She sighed then. “I probably should start research on just how many other stones she has in addition to the ones we know she has stolen.”

“…One of them is Aphrodite’s.” Hephaestus told them after a moment of deliberation.

“Mine?” Aphrodite gasped. “I didn’t even know I had one.”

“Yes. It allows her to change her appearance.” Her husband stated. He felt a bit bad to tell Athena about it since he enjoyed the girl’s presence and insight but… The girl was mortal. What if someone else got their hands on her and the stones she had? And Athena would be reasonable about this matter.

A bit aside from the conversation, Hermes turned to address Ares.

“I’m surprised you are not in there stirring them up.”

“Are you kidding? This is the most progress they’ve done in the matter since starting the chase her. And even then, only on her allowance.” The God of War grinned. “She is amusing to have around.”

“Huh? You know her then?”

“As do you. As does the cripple.” Ares muttered. “She must be tiring of her game if she is giving such blatant hints.”

“She really does walk her own route on her own pace.” Hermes agreed. “I hope that once she is caught, they will be merciful on her. After all, those stones – while derived from out power – are not anymore fully ours.”

“Pops and featherbrain don’t seem to remember that.” Ares scoffed.

“True…”

* * *

 

** House of Dusk, 20th December **

Sally Jackson was quite happy woman. Wary, but happy woman. When Percy’s friend Luna Cykes from Yancy had extended an invitation for her and Percy to spend Christmas with her family, she’d been surprised. That the invitation deliberately excluded Gabe… Well, she could take a break but she dreaded to know what the apartment would look like after they came back. Not to mention what concessions Gabe would require out of them.

Fortunately, it seemed that Gabe would be going drinking with his… friends and thus had no intention of demanding Christmas feast from her like on previous years.

It was such a relief. And after talking directly with Luna and her aunt Lena, agreements were made and Sally had promised to help making the food as well. It had been a while since Sally had celebrated a family Christmas… actually not since she had been a girl.

Then she and Percy had arrived to the house. The preparations were already in full swing and Luna roped Percy to help cleaning the place. The house was quite interesting. Lena called it the House of Dusk but didn’t explain why. But the split architecture implied that it was probably meant for two different people or groups of people to reside in.

Then other people started to trickle in. Lena’s brother Lewis and his daughter Lila. And Lila’s son Henry.

“He had his first birthday last week.” Lila smiled happily when introducing the baby boy to Sally and Percy.

“Oh, I remember when Percy was that age. Quite the handful he was.” Sally reminisced.

“Mom!” Came the protest.

“Hush, let me have this. You were very precious boy for me.”

“Mom…” The said precious boy whined but didn’t fight the sideways hug Sally gave him.

“You are very close.” Lila observed. “It’s nice to see.”

“Thank you.” Sally beamed. Then, she wasn’t sure what prompted her to ask but… “What about Henry’s father? Is he in the picture?”

 Lila faltered visibly for a moment but smiled then, if in a strained manner. Sally let Percy escape and find Luna once more.

“He… He is a good friend of mine but I haven’t told him about Henry yet. We live different lives and he currently is going through difficult time.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“It’s alright…” Lila shrugged and then leant over Henry to make faces at him. The one-year-old squealed and tried to grab at her braids. “I’ll tell him eventually.”

The sentence struck odd to Sally and then, like someone had shattered glass, a realization came to her. Henry was a demigod like Percy. Lila’s situation mirrored Sally’s but from the other side. Lila – or whatever her real name was – was immortal and didn’t want burden Henry’s mortal parent with the boy just yet because of his living situation. Lila was _breaking law_ in order to ensure happiness of her son and her lover both.

Sally looked around in the room, mentally searching for Lena and Lewis… If Lila was immortal, then who were those two? Who was Luna? Were they after Percy?

Panic was rising in Sally when a hand settled on her forearm.

“Calm, Sally Jackson. We wish no harm to you or your son regardless of who his father is.” Lila smiled, this time fully.

“Who… Who are you, milady?” Sally breathed.

“I’m Autere, goddess of Dusk. The creator and owner of this house. My father is the titan Lelantos and my aunt is titaness Leto. Luna is half-sister to Leto’s grandson and clear-sighted but as she and her brother have no parents, we stepped in to protect them from well-meaning but interfering mortals.”

“That’s…” Sally was speechless. Titans. There wasn’t much about them in mythology, not like about Olympians and other gods in conjunction to them.

“We only wish for a joyful Christmas.” Lena – Leto – had arrived to room as well. “Sally, would you join me in the kitchen? I think Lila needs to put Henry on his nap.”

The baby was indeed starting to fuzz on his mother’s arms.

“Sure…” Sally hoped she’d get more answers soon. But thankfully it seemed for now that they wished no harm to Percy.

* * *

 

At some point of evening Luna was sent on errands as she knew the nearby stores the best. She came back with very satisfied smile on her face and one hand constantly fiddling with something. Leto and Lelantos only exchanged long-suffering glances but Autere smiled serenely at her… cousin? Cousin seemed appropriate.

Sally and Percy slept in a guest room in the European half of the house while the titans were on Japanese half. Next day the preparations continued. Lelantos brought a Christmas tree that he and the kids decorated with red and cream-colored balls as well some golden pearl strings. It was… not muted but had less different colors than what Sally had seen on trees and remembered herself. And none of the decorations were plastic and were obviously meant to last several years. Very un-American.

“I’m Finnish.” Luna had retorted when Sally had voiced the thought.

“Luna… Shouldn’t you go pick up Clay?” Lelantos then suggested, stopping Luna from continuing whatever train of thought she obviously had that probably would’ve led to inconsistency in the cover story around the girl and her brother.

“Ah, yes.” And the girl dashed out of the room.

“Why is Lune picking up her brother? Shouldn’t you do that?” Percy asked Lelantos. Sally was about to apologize for the boy’s disrespect but Lelantos just gave an indulgent smile.

“They haven’t seen in months. I rather have her and Clay get a few moments alone before being forced to socialize. They are both solitary people but very attached to each other.” The titan explained.

“Ah, Luna does have her dorm room all to herself.” Percy nodded. “And she doesn’t really talk to anyone else but me and Grover. And even then she and Grover don’t like each other much.”

That sounded difficult. Sally hadn’t heard of this before but she really hoped Luna and Grover wouldn’t try to make Percy choose between them.

“Percy… Does Luna have difficulties at school?” Lelantos asked then. “I get some reports but…” There was a wave of hand that seemed to encompass everything possible about the teachers at Yancy.

“She… does well with school work. Though some teachers thought she was cheating because last year she did poorly. But Lune helps me with my subjects and makes me notes that are easier to read. Some teachers tried to get on her case when she started showing late in the mornings and missed the Pledge but it wasn’t like she’d ever actually said it before.”

“I see…” Lelantos nodded. “Thank you for telling me Percy.”

* * *

 

Luna’s brother Clay was just two years older than Percy but seemed much more mature than that. He was polite and Percy was quickly taken by him. He didn’t share much what he did while Luna was at school but Sally guessed he was at Camp Half-Blood. While Sally dreaded the day, she’d have to sent Percy there as well, it comforted her that once the day would arrive, there’d be at least one person that Percy already knew.

The evening of Winter Solstice was nice and sometimes Sally caught herself wondering how Poseidon was doing. The Olympians were holding council tonight after all.

The children were playing outside in the snow with Autere overseeing them. Meanwhile Lelantos and Leto shared centuries old gossip with Sally. Eventually Sally couldn’t help but ask a question that had been bothering her ever since she’d been let in to the secrets.

“How is Autere getting away with looking after Henry? Poseidon told me that laws forbid gods taking care of their offspring.”

“That is mainly to avoid favoritism as well as avoid heartbreak once demigods eventually die away.” Leto explained. “We immortals love fiercely but after ancient times, we had to start limiting our interactions with mortals. Time for quests is over but we are still the same. The gods can’t interfere with the way mortals live their lives, it would bring unbalance and eventually strife between us and between humans. We still extend influence where our domains lie but…”

“Autere can get away with this because Henry is her firstborn.” Lelantos continued. “And she is unknown goddess for mortals and doesn’t influence them directly.”

“She mainly deals with demigods.”

“And Henry’s existence is to be remain secret for a few more years.”

“Why?” Sally frowned.

“Things are stirring… A Prophecy has been foretold… And Autere doesn’t want Henry getting in the middle of everything considering how young he is.” Leto smiled sadly.

“Not to mention that it’s soon the time for her to sleep once more.” Lelantos sighed, looking burdened.

“Sleep?”

“Autere is known as the sleeping goddess among us. She spends most of her time asleep and doing her work through dreams. For the last two years she has been awake because of her pregnancy and Henry’s first year but soon she needs to sleep again. It’s important.” The last statement was said in a manner that conveyed to Sally that she’d better not pry.

“I see…”

“No, you really don’t. But thank you anyways.” Leto sighed.

* * *

 

Next few days passed too quickly in Sally’s opinion. They ate good rice porridge for lunch on Christmas Eve and every one of them got an almond and thus a wish. On the evening they had a three-course meal after which they settled on watching television and then sharing and opening the presents placed beneath the Christmas tree on the day before, as if to add to decoration.

“Luna, that’s a nice hairband you have. Is it a Christmas present as well?” Sally noted when the children were engrossed in ripping the wrapping paper open. Said girl looked up from an art history book she’d received from Lelantos. She seemed to ponder her answer for a moment before shrugging.

“Of sorts. Met a friend. Got the hairband.” She replied.

“It’s a very nice hairband.” Sally smiled to the girl. The hair band looked antique. It was made of some dark metal or then painted black and had decorative roses in it. It suited Luna and her blonde hair.

“Thank you.” Luna muttered but then quickly engaged in conversation with Percy about some Lego set Clay had received. Apparently, the siblings shared a love for them even if building was more interesting than actually playing with them.

Clay was playing Christmas carols on the background with the grand piano in the room. It was such a nice Christmas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More plot stuff in next chapter, once again from Luna's PoV.


	17. In which Autere does damage control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Autere meets a friend, reveals secrets and urges to keep the status quo. Luna has a new math teacher and Clay has troubles keeping his temper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is actually the last chapter of pre-series. I had originally planned on 18 chapters but then I realized there isn't much happening between this chapter and start of LT. At least not enough to warrant an entire chapter for it. Originally this chapter was meant to show what happened after Solstice with Luna... but Autere breezed in.

** 31st December, 2005, hours until change of the year **

Autere strode through the halls of Underworld. While the matter she needed to discuss with Hades was not urgent quite yet, it was still of utmost importance. Especially considering the temper tantrum Zeus was throwing for all mortals to see. From gossip, Autere knew that Zeus was currently suspecting Poseidon and Hades equally, thus enraging both but with Poseidon’s temper being visibly as volatile as Zeus’s, it was him that the Lord of the Sky was focusing on currently. Hades in the other hand…

“And just what do you think you are doing here, Cursed One?” The King of the Underworld asked quietly but menacingly.

“That title I haven’t heard in a while… not since 20’s when Apollo kept reminding me of it constantly.” Autere remarked, coming to stop in front of Hades who was sitting on his throne, for all appearances visibly brooding. “What purpose do you wish to convey by using it?”

“I wish for you to begone! You never bring good news. Not when you actually walk into a room rather than just appearing.”

Ah, that was true. Usually things Autere needed to tell weren’t… so impactful so she preferred to fade to the background and only speak when she felt like. And when she had something of import to tell, she wanted to have people to brace for the news.

“So you don’t want to know the location of your Helm?” Autere gave an arch look at him and crossed her arms.

“…Of course you know it went missing.” Hades sighed, slumping in his seat.

“Yes. Mainly because one of my protégés came home day after Solstice with the Helm adorning her hair… as a hairband. She hasn’t taken it off since and is very cagey about where she got it. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was bound by an oath.”

“By protégé you mean one of the children living in your house.” They had talked about them before. Autere liked to watch after the two because of reasons of her own. And if she liked to talk about them anonymously as well… sue her.

“Yes. Luna is a good kid. And I’d like if you didn’t harm her.” Autere waved her hand and an image shimmered to the view next to her. Of three kids sitting on a porch and snacking on roasted chestnuts in carton cones. Hades narrowed his eyes at them.

“Yes, I can see the Helm on her…” He looked at the two boys then. “Clay Gavin… He’s her brother, isn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“Does that mean the girl is Thalassa as well?” The God of Dead questioned remembering how the demigod had referred the thief as sister when the woman had appeared to fetch him from Olympus.

“Yes. As Luna is mortal and thus not at the Camp, it gives leeway for her to conduct her heists.” Autere bit her lip as she knew what the next question would be.

“The last boy… He is Poseidon’s.” A flat statement.

In the image Sally appeared on the porch, giving the kids glasses of glogg. Percy gave a bright smile to the woman while Luna and Clay thanked her politely.

“Yes…”

“Of course.” Hades sighed. “Naturally neither of them could keep it in their pants after forcing me to take the Oath with them. After Zeus tried to take last of my children from me…”

Autere wanted to leave the room now. As Hades was her friend, he knew about Henry as well… Her mere presence was an unpleasant reminder of what he’d lost.

“The boy is in New York. Sooner or later Zeus will find out about him. And take it as a proof that Poseidon is behind the theft.” Hades continued.

“And it won’t even matter that currently Percy is completely unaware of his heritage.” Autere agreed. Hades shot her a piercing gaze.

“Is this one of the things you simply _just know_?”

“One of them, yes.

“How old is the sea spawn?”

“Twelve.”

“So in four years the Great Prophecy will come true.”

“Three and half and not necessarily.” Autere hedged. “Anything can happen in the meanwhile… Nothing says that Percy is the Hero for sure…”

“You brought him to my attention when you didn’t do that even about Thalia. You know me and my anger. You knew how angry I was to Zeus and how I’d take it out on her and you _didn’t even try_. You who have protected and watched over half-bloods and chosen champions in all pantheons that are still active.” Hades leant forward in his throne, one hand on the arm rest like he was about to spring up and start circling Autere like a predator cat. Autere just barely contained her flinch at the accusation.

“I… I knew there was no stopping you… Zeus was the first to violate the Oath, misfortune would have fallen on Thalia anyways due that. And I’m not stupid enough to think I’d actually be able to stop you by force or by words when you are truly angered.”

“But there was something else as well.” Hades got on his feet and regally stepped down the stairs leading up to his throne. “Something that made you decide she was an acceptable sacrifice.”

This time Autere did flinch visibly. Sacrifice. How she hated that word.

“Tell me.” Hades was right in front of her now but Autere refused to look at him.

“Her death… And Zeus’s interference on it ensured protection on the Camp.” She said with small voice. “That I knew and weighted an acceptable and preferable outcome.”

“Oh, Tired One…” And she was tucked against the Lord of the Underworld’s frame. Hades knew. He knew that Autere hated when demigods died and she had to deem it an acceptable loss. Sometimes she could bend and delay the Fates when it came to her favourites but not always. And Thalia had definitely been one of her favourites. Otherwise she wouldn’t have let her and her companions stay in House of Dusk.

“I think we need a plan.” Hades mused. Autere just nodded mutely against his chest.

* * *

 

Once the holidays were over, students of Yancy Academy were greeted by new math’s teacher Mrs. Dodds. Most of the students didn’t like her, Percy and Luna among them. And Mrs. Dodds didn’t like them either.

(Deep in the Underworld, Autere sighed in relief that the status quo would hopefully be kept long enough for the things go on as she knew they should. She wasn’t entirely sure how Hades had instructed Alecto but apparently it was sufficient enough to keep up suspicion on the parts of the children yet not enough for Alecto to go actively after them.)

When Nancy Bobofit, Mrs. Dodds apparent favourite, tried to pick on Percy and Luna and Grover once more – The three had somewhat been delegated to appropriate targets with the math teacher’s arrival – Luna had retaliated. Hard. Next morning the bully was found duct-taped to the ceiling of her own dorm room and wasn’t found until lunchtime when teachers began wondering where the girl might be.

Luna was not caught. Officially. Nancy had not seen who the culprit was (the perks of having the Helm in her possession) but the way Percy grinned at her and Grover glared at her, they had some idea. And if Grover had an idea, then Mr. Brunner had it also even if he could not act on it.

(“She used the Helm for _pranking_ …” Hades groaned.

“For revenge.” Autere corrected.

“Shouldn’t you rest already? It’s been long two years for you.”

“Not until Solstice. I want to see this through.”)

* * *

 

Luna sighed. The Helm felt heavy on her head. Sometimes if was so light she forgot its presence and sometime it felt like she needed to bow in shame and guilt for daring the bear it.

“Heavy weights the crown…” She muttered as she browsed the library for books on Greek Mythology. Something to help her drill information on Percy’s head. Something easy to digest and to be made rhymes and mnemonics of. The boy needed to be prepared. Maybe he’d get answers spoonfed by Annabeth but it would be good if he wasn’t a total newbie when arriving to the camp.

The years of dismissive school teachers had left their marks on the boy and made him reluctant to receive any instruction from anyone else. The only exceptions to this rule where Luna and Mr. Brunner but even then it was uphill battle.

“I don’t get the point…” Was the most common complaint from Percy.

“You don’t need to. But if there’s even one subject that you can find yourself enjoying… I’ll be happy.” Luna replied. They’d gone through many subjects and topics aside from Mythology during the past months and thus far only marine biology had seemed to catch any interest. Not a surprise there but depressingly predictable choice.

Idly, Luna wished that she’d have time to pull a couple heists before the events of the first book truly kicked up.

* * *

 

I was worried about Luna. I could see that the titans were as well, especially Autere. She knew something of what Luna was hiding. I had an inkling as to what it was related to given the events that took place in December but I had no proof and Luna wasn’t talking. Anytime I tried to ask anything about where she’d gone during Solstice, she’d just shake her head with guilt and apology in her eyes. Many times I saw her opening her mouth as if to say something when I hadn’t asked anything but then she closed it again and rubbed her throat with a grimace. Not in actual pain but… phantom sensation I suppose. A warning what would happen were she to tell anything to anyone.

So I told her not to worry about telling me and enjoy her last semester in Yancy. It was all I could do really. Unless Luna found some loophole through which to tell me what exactly was going on, I couldn’t do anything to actually help.

Not that I would have much chances. As soon as I arrived back to Camp, I was accosted by my cabinmates, other campers and then ordered to Big House where I faced an interrogation courtesy of Mr. D. Very lazy and only partly serious interrogation. That was Mr. D for you, doing only as much as he had to and then dropping it as soon as possible. I was almost disappointed that it was over so soon and I had to return to face the rest of the Camp and their incessant questions. Almost.

At least Chiron wasn’t there. He would’ve evoked ‘I’m so disappointed in you’ card that made even the toughest Ares kids to fold.

But routine in camplife was found again and I got swept along with everything. Before I even noticed, it was the end of February and my 15th birthday.

And Thalassa’s first heist of the year. Given the reports and rumours about the event, I could only suppose that she was venting her frustrations on guards and property. While it was nothing serious, some concussions and bruises had been freely given. I dearly wished she’d tone it down for her next heist. Even if her behavior was ironically appropriate given the stone she was fetching: Strength of Wrath. A carnelian that would grant a boost in strength or endurance for the wearer. Ares’s stone naturally.

“Clay, are you alright?” Luke took a seat next to me by campfire. Singalong was ways ahead but with the lull in activities in preparation for it, I’d taken a moment for myself. Until the son of Hermes approached me.

“I’m fine.” I grunted, only barely keeping my voice level and hands steady as I forced myself not to pummel the boy. If I acted now, it would spell nothing good for Luna. Or me.

But I knew… I just _knew_ that Luna’s weird behavior had something to do with Luke and Ares. If for nothing else, then for the timing alone.

“You don’t seem fine.”

Alright then… If Luke really wanted to know.

“I’m worried for Luna.”

“Because of her recent heist?”

“No… Because something strange is going on and it’s stressing her out.” I carefully did not glance at Luke to see his reaction but I could definitely feel the older boy tensing next to me. “And she is not talking about it to me which in turn worries me.”

“I see… Could it be some troubles at school then?”

“Maybe.” I agreed. “She has complained about her new math teacher who apparently hates her and couple of other students who are her friends.”

“That’s probably it then.”

“Yeah, but it’s times like these when I wish to be by her side and support her. With me being a demigod though…”

“Better stay away…”

“Yes.”

Our conversation dried up soon as other campers arrived to the campfire and Lee began strumming the first notes with his guitar. I let out a sigh and leant back. The music washed over me and no one bothered me for not singing. I wasn’t on the mood to participating in camp songs.

Was I mean if I wished that Alecto would already attack Percy and thus kickstart the events of Lightning Thief?

“Clay, do you have anything to sing?” Lou Ellen nudged me from my right. Of course she wouldn’t let me brood in peace.

“Aa…” I hummed an affirmative. “It’s a shitty translation though… And bloody depressing…”

“Sing it, sing it…” Campers clapped their hands in rhythm as they chanted encouragement. It had become a norm whenever someone hemmed and hawed about solo singing. Especially if they were anyway decent singers. Like I was. Especially after my public claiming.

“Fine…” I groaned theatrically and coughed a bit…

 _“We sat on the pier, listened to accordion play… Waves were hitting the shore…_  
What I dreamt about, can’t really remember… But I know how happy I was…  
Sure thing is that my dreams so old… never had the chance to come true…  
Oh, how I long to see my friend again… Fate had us part our ways…

 _“Sons of Eagle without wings… rocked by the storms of wide world…_  
So far behind us are days of our youth… No way to get them back…  
Songs of wind, only those I can hear… Nothing more beautiful do I know…

 _“Quiet accordion, only memories… plays to the table of lonely man…_  
I wouldn’t be here sitting down… if I weren’t a stranger…  
Friend, come and join me for moment… even when you are unknown…  
Once these sails of mine and darkened… once they white were…

 _“Sons of Eagle without wings… rocked by the storms of wide world…_  
So far behind us are days of our youth… No way to get them back…  
Songs of wind, only those I can hear… Nothing more beautiful do I know…

 _“My friend, listen as my companion… as if the waves roll by…_  
In the night like ships we meet… until we glide away again…  
Perhaps to someone I may tell… shattered dreams of mine…  
Far didn’t wings carry after all… of wounded eagle young…

 _“Sons of Eagle without wings… rocked by the storms of wide world…_  
So far behind us are days of our youth… No way to get them back…  
Songs of wind, only those I can hear… Nothing more beautiful do I know…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was bored and wrote up some song lyrics again... Translated an old favourite song of mine actually. The song's name is Kotkan poikii ilman siipii by Juha Vainio and you can search it from youtube if you want to hear the melody. It's quite melancholic yet somewhat appropriate way to end this fic.

**Author's Note:**

> Original A/N from FFN:  
> Alright... I probably should explain the references to you for now... Later on you don't really need to worry about them since I practically start from a clean slate. I just wanted to use Shugo and Tsukiko in this fic too.
> 
> 1\. Detective Conan: Manga series of which world Shugo and Tsukiko ended up earlier in their life.
> 
> 2\. Magic Kaito: Another manga series that is connected to the world of Detective Conan. Some characters are the same
> 
> 3\. Pandora: Mythical red gem inside another one that is said to cry tears of immortality when a certain comet passes close to earth. The gem can be seen when the outer gem is held against moonlight. Kaito was after it after finding out that his father had been killed because of it. Tsukiko assisted Kaito as Red Moon.
> 
> 4\. Kage and Red Moon: Tsukiko's side personalities so she won't go mad due everything she's trying to do. Kage is manipulator and planner fighting actively against Black organization with less than legal means. Red Moon is a thief who assists Phantom Thief Kaitou Kid in his hunt of Pandora. Tsukiko herself tried to live relatively normal life with connections to more legal branch of organization fighters(some of her friends plus the FBI). But as mentioned, they are fading away into Tsukiko's primary personality.
> 
> 5\. Black Organization: Goal unknown but they were evil and needed to get rid of.
> 
> 6\. Yabusame: Japanese mounted archery. It's very ceremonial and I recommend to watch videos of it but in general, it is only referenced to in the terms of Shugo's skill in archery.
> 
> 7\. Kyuudo: Japanese traditional archery.
> 
> 8\. Ace Attorney: There might be a lot of references to this game. At least with the names I'm picking up. I know that I said in the Leap that Tsukiko hasn't played it but maybe she'll get to know it sometime later...
> 
> 9\. "Polly il pappagallo è il pollo.": "Polly the parrot is a chicken." The reference comes from AA-game where Trucy Wright calls Apollo 'Polly'. I don't know how right this sentence is but as it's quite straightforward I doubt GOOGLE trnsltr messed it up too badly. Or then Tsukiko simply doesn't know Italian that well. :P  
> ()  
> But! I hope you review if you liked this and want to read more. You can also review to comment my writing in overall. And as you can see, I'll be giving them a year(and half) before the canon events begin. And if you want to know more about Tsukiko and Shugo, you can always read my other fics.
> 
> ()
> 
> I have a discord too! Please join us! https://discord.gg/WPTJGuV


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